GIFT 
'1/iBK  H&YIEI  RAY 

OF 
B.S.'IS  2X,AZ 

i- 


POULTRY   FOR   PROFIT 


A  PRACTICAL  MANUAL  FOR 
BEGINNERS,  FARMERS  AND 
SIDE-LINE  POULTRYMEN 


BY 


JEAN    A.    KOETHEN 


CULTIVATOR    PUBLISHING   CO. 

LOS   ANGELES,    CAL. 

1915 


K 


*      °    3  a*   «**>•>.**• 
i »   a  •  '  a  I   *  "  *      o 

^?*s^:Vj 


Copyright  1915 

by 
Cultivator  Publishing  Company 


AW 


Acknowledgement  and  Explanation 

This  book  is  designed  as  a  simple  outline  of 
the  principles  of  poultry  culture  and  a  resume  of 
the  most  up-to-date  methods  in  use  among  practical 
poultrymen.  There  is  no  best  method  for  any  part 
of  poultry  work,  but  there  are  a  few  broad  princi- 
ples underlying  all,  which  must  be  grasped  by  the 
learner  who  is  seeking  for  best  results.  Naturally, 
such  a  book  must  be  largely  a  compilation,  and  the 
writer  acknowledges  her  indebtedness  to  the  bulle- 
tins of  the  Missouri,  Oregon,  California,  Iowa, 
Indiana,  Maine  and  New  York  Experiment  Stations, 
to  Robinson's  "Principles  and  Practice  of  Poultry 
Culture,"  Milo  Hasting's  "Dollar  Hen,"  Brigham's 
"Progressive  Poultry  Culture,"  the  Reliable  Poultry 
Journal  Publishing  Company's  Turkey  and  Duck 
Books,  I.  K.  Felch's  "Poultry  Culture,"  and  many 
current  publications  which  cannot  be  specifically 
mentioned  here. 

Grateful  acknowledgment  is  also  made  of  the 
courtesy  of  the  Missouri,  California  and  Oregon 
Experiment  Stations  for  the  loan  of  valuable 
photographs. 

JEAN  A.  KOETHEN. 
Los  Angeles,  Cal. 

Jan.  15,  1915. 


Table  of  Contents 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

Acknowledgment  and  Explanation ...  5 

I.  Making  a  Beginning 9-24 

II.  Housing  and  Yarding 25-39 

III.  Incubation    40-  63 

IV.  Brooding 64-81 

V.  Feeding 82-113 

VI.  Breeding 114-131 

VII.  Marketing 132-141 

VIII.  Sanitation  and  Hygiene 142-159 

IX.  Fixtures  and  Conveniences 160-169 

X.  Diseases  and  Vices 170-196 

XII.  Ducks  and  Geese 213-224 

XL  Turkeys 197-212 


Text  Figures 

PAGE 

Double  Runs  at  Front  of  House  (Fig.  3) 26 

Double  Runs,  Front  and  Rear  (Fig.  4) 26 

Triple  Yard  System  (Fig.  5) 27 

Canvas  Covered  Scratching  Shed  (Fig.  8) 32 

Framework  for  Portable  Colony  House  (Fig.  9)  33 

Floor  Plan  for  Double  House  (Fig.  13) 36 

Housing  and  Yarding  (Fig.  16) 37 

Diagram  Showing  Air  Cells  (Fig.  19) 60 

Toe  Markings  (Fig.  20) 62 

Coop  for  Chicks  (Fig.  23) 79 

Felch  Line  Breeding  Chart  (Fig.  27) 122 

Feed  Hopper  (Figs.  28  and  29) 138 

Diagram  Missouri  Trapnest  (Fig.  39) 167 

Homemade  Trapnest 168,  169 


Plates 

The  Author Frontisipece 

FACING  PAGE 

Lady  Show- You 9 

Scratching-Shed  House  (Fig.  1) 25 

Shed-Roof  Colony  House  (Fig.  2) 25 

Colony  Houses  (Fig.  6) 29 

Colony  House  with  Scratching  Shed  (Fig.  7)  . .  29 

Interior  of  Laying  House  (Fig.  10) 33 

Front  of  Model  Scratching-Shed  House  (Fig.  14)  36 

Rear  of  Model  Scratching-Shed  (Fig.  15) 40 

Hatching  and  Brooding  Coop  (Fig.  21) 60 

Brooder  House  and  Runs  (Fig.  22) 60 

Brooder  House,  1200  Chick  Capacity  (Fig.  11)  .  64 

Simplest  Form  of  Long  House  (Fig.  12) 64 

Breeding  House.    Adjustable  Doors  (Fig.  17)  .  82 

Portable  Tarred  Paper  House  (Fig.  18) 82 

First  Feed  for  Baby  Chicks  (Fig.  32) 99 

Home  Made  Trough  and  Fountains  (Fig.  33)  ..  99 

Typical  White  Leghorn  (Fig.  24) 114 

Pullet  of  High  Vitality  (Fig.  25) 114 

Rose  Comb  White  Leghorn  (Fig.  26) 114 

Movable  Hopper  (Fig.  30) 160 

Feed  Hopper  for  Baby  Chicks  (Fig.  31) 160 

Broody  Coop  (Fig.  34) 162 

Brood  Coop  of  Grocer's  Box  (Fig.  35) 165 

Jug  Mother  (Fig.  36) 165 

Oregon  Trapnest  (Fig.  37) 168 

Missouri  Trapnest  (Fig.  38) 168 

Most  Profitable  Crop  (Fig.  42) 197 

White  Diarrhea  Chicks  (Fig.  40) 213 

Aylesbury  Ducks  (Fig.  41) 213 


LADY    SHOW-YOU 

281-EGG    HEN    OF   THE    NATIONAL    EGG   LAYING    CONTEST 


Poultry  for  Profit 

CHAPTER  I. 

Making   a    Beginning 

Poultry  keepers,  present  and  prospective,  may  be 
divided  into  five  classes : 

1.  The  man  who  makes  poultry  production  a 
business. 

2.  The  man   (it  is  more  often  a  woman)   who 
keeps  chickens  in  the  back  yard  to  supply  the  family 
table. 

3.  The  farmer  who  keeps  poultry  as  a  neces- 
sary and  profitable  adjunct  to  the  more  important 
farm  operations. 

4.  The  back-lotter   or  suburbanite  who  raises 
fowls  as  a  side  line  to  add  to  the  family  income. 

5.  The  person   (man  or  woman)   who  is  inter- 
ested in  good  poultry  and  who  looks  forward  to 
some  time  becoming  a  producer. 

If  you  belong  to  the  first  class,  this  book  is  not 
for  you.  If  you  belong  to  one  of  the  other  four,  and 
especially  to  the  last  class,  you  may  find  in  it  some- 
thing that  will  give  you  a  clearer  idea  of  the  much 
misrepresented  "chicken  business"  and  of  the  prin- 
ciples which  underlie  successful  poultry  production. 

DOES  POULTRY  PAY? 

As  well  ask  if  farming  or  plumbing  or  the  gro- 
cery business  pays.  Some  people  will  succeed  in  any 
business;  some  will  fail  in  any. 

"The  fault,  dear  Brutus,  is  not  in  our  stars, 
But  in  ourselves,  that  we  are  underlings." 


10  POULTP-Y  FOR  PROFIT 

Poultry  work  has  paid  many  people;  it  may  not 
pay  you. 

A  great  deal  of  literature  has  been  published, 
chiefly  by  people  who  had  something  to  sell,  calling 
attention  to  the  easy  money  in  the  chicken  business. 
It  is  quite  time  a  gullible  public  stopped  listening  to 
these  sirens'  songs.  There  is  no  easy  money  in  the 
chicken  business.  Some  men  are  making  fortunes; 
many  are  finding  a  good  living ;  and  many  others  are 
adding  materially  to  their  income  by  raising  poultry ; 
but  it  is  through  "long  days  of  labor  and  nights  de- 
void of  ease."  No  work  is  more  exacting,  no  hours 
longer,  no  experiences  at  times  more  discouraging, 
no  business  more  at  the  mercy  of  untoward  tides 
and  winds  of  circumstance;  and  yet  no  work  has, 
for  the  right  man  or  woman,  more  real  pleasure  and 
profit. 

If  you  have  a  clear  head  and  strong  feet;  if  you 
love  good  fowls  and  hard  work;  if  you  have  it  in 
you  to  rise  at  five  o'clock  of  a  cold,  wet  morning 
to  see  that  chicks  and  hens  have  their  meals  at  reg- 
ular hours,  and  to  spend  the  evening  going  the 
rounds  of  your  houses  to  see  that  crops  are  full  and 
every  fowl  comfortable;  if  you  can  give  up  part  of 
your  Sundays  and  most  of  your  holidays  for  the  sake 
of  your  fowls ;  if  you  are  willing  to  study  and  plan 
and  keep  accounts,  then  consider  that  you  can  suc- 
ceed with  poultry.  This  is  "a  man's  job."  If  you 
are  looking  for  something  easy,  let  it  alone. 

HOW    TO    BEGIN 

The  way  to  begin,  as  a  famous  statesman  said  of 
the  resumption  of  specie  payments,  is  to  begin.  Right 
where  you  are  is  the  place ;  right  now  the  time ;  but 
don't  make  the  mistake  of  thinking  you  can  drop 
the  business  you  are  engaged  in  and,  without  experi- 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  11 

ence,  make  a  flying  leap  into  "the  chicken  business." 
You  would  not  think  of  doing  it  with  any  other  busi- 
ness. Why  imagine  that  poultry  culture  is  so  mean 
and  insignificant  a  thing  that  it  needs  neither 
knowledge  nor  preparation  ?  The  best  way  to  learn 
the  "poultry  business"  is  to  hire  out  to  a  poultryman 
and  learn  to  do  by  doing.  The  second  best  way  is  to 
begin  with  a  few  hens  in  your  own  back  yard,  keep 
accurate  account  of  every  cent  received  and  spent, 
of  poultry  and  eggs  used  by  the  family,  and  of 
losses,  and  see  at  the  end  of  the  year  what  your 
profit  is.  When  you  have  made  twenty-five  hens  pay 
a  profit  of  a  dollar  or  more  a  year  per  hen,  you  are 
ready  to  increase  the  number,  and  not  till  then. 

Some  people  have  the  knack  of  raising  poultry; 
some  have  not.  Put  no  more  money  into  it  than  you 
can  afford  to  lose  till  you  have  found  out  which  sort 
of  person  you  are. 

BEFORE   YOU   BEGIN 

Most  of  the  people  who  read  this  book  already 
know  something  about  chickens,  have  "kept  hens" 
after  a  fashion  and  raised  chicks  with  hen  mothers. 
Perhaps  you  have  now  some  common  stock  on  which 
you  can  practice.  If  you  have  not,  buy  or  borrow  a 
sitting  hen.  She  will  probably  cost  a  dollar  if  she  is 
large  enough  to  be  a  good  mother,  and  a  setting  of 
eggs  will  cost  another  dollar.  Learn  how  to  set  a 
hen,  how  to  keep  her  from  breaking  the  eggs  and 
from  dying  on  the  nest  from  the  attacks  of  mites; 
how  to  save  some  of  the  chicks  which  do  not  pip  the 
shell,  how  to  raise  every  chick  hatched,  barring 
accidents,  and  how  to  keep  them  growing.  Study 
Mother  Biddy's  ways  and  learn  how  she  keeps  her 
babies  warm  and  at  the  same  time  hardens  them. 
She  is  mistress  of  the  art  of  combining  warmth, 


12  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

fresh  air,  exercise,  and  that  utterly  indefinable 
something  called  "mothering."  When  you  have 
learned  something  of  her  methods,  you  are  ready  to 
make  a  beginning  with  good  stock. 

There  are  three  ways  of  beginning  with  poultry : 

1. — BUYING  BABY  CHICKS. — This  is  the  cheapest 
and  usually  the  safest  way  to  begin.  Baby  chicks 
may  be  had  from  reliable  breeders  for  from  ten  to 
twenty  cents  apiece.  One  hundred  Leghorns  from 
bred-to-lay  stock  may  be  bought  for  twelve  or  fifteen 
dollars,  but  don't  buy  Leghorns  if  you  are  limited  to 
a  town  lot,  and  do  not,  under  any  circumstances,  buy 
more  than  you  have  hens  to  hover.  Artificial  brood- 
ers should  be  purchased  only  when  you  know  you  are 
going  to  make  a  success  of  your  venture,  and  the 
fireless  brooders,  which  can  be  made  from  soap  and 
starch  boxes,  are  not  very  satisfactory  in  the  hands 
of  a  novice. 

In  planning  to  order  chicks,  you  must  consider 
not  only  how  many  chicks  you  can  provide  comfort- 
able quarters  for,  but  how  many  grown  fowls  you 
can  house  without  overcrowding  them.  Leghorns 
require  less  room  after  they  are  grown  than  hens  of 
the  heavy  breeds.  If  you  have  a  house  and  yard  of 
suitable  size  for  fifty  Leghorn  hens,  it  should  not 
be  expected  to  house  more  than  forty  Rocks.  Poul- 
trymen  usually  consider  it  necessary  to  hatch  three 
chicks  for  every  pullet  they  wish  to  have  at  maturity. 
You  will  therefore  need  to  order  150  Leghorn  or  120 
Rock  or  Red  chicks  if  you  wish  to  fill  a  house  of  this 
size. 

Unless  you  have  had  some  experience  with  incu- 
bator chicks  it  will  be  safer  not  to  order  more  than 
fifty  the  first  time.  If  you  succeed  with  these,  you 
can  buy  more  later.  If  you  do  not  raise  a  good  per- 
centage of  them,  you  will  be  glad  you  have  no  more. 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  13 

If  there  is  one  rule  that  is  of  vital  importance  to  the 
beginner,  it  is  "Go  slow."  Better  raise  twenty-five 
chicks  to  a  fine,  sturdy  maturity  than  have  a  hundred 
runts  to  get  rid  of.  It  is  quality  that  counts,  not 
quantity. 

To  care  for  the  fifty  chicks  you  have  ordered  you 
should  have  three  hens.  In  warm  weather  a  hen 
can  care  for  twenty-five  chicks,  though  she  is  quite 
likely  to  trample  on  some  of  them;  but  in  March, 
when  you  should  be  raising  these  chicks,  from  fifteen 
to  twenty  are  all  a  good-sized  hen  can  cover. 

There  are  two  ways  of  providing  mothers  for  a 
brood  of  incubator  chicks.  If  you  have  a  sufficient 
number  of  hens  of  your  own,  the  best  plan  is  to  set 
as  many  as  four  three  weeks  before  you  expect  your 
chicks.  Four  hens  will  not  hatch  more  than  thirty 
chicks,  unless  you  are  remarkably  fortunate,  and  the 
four  can  easily  care  for  the  fifty  you  buy  and  the 
thirty  they  hatch.  If  you  raise  thirty  vigorous 
pullets  from  this  lot,  you  may  not  need  to  order 
more.  If  you  have  not  hen  mothers,  but  must  buy 
broodies,  get  them  at  least  a  week  before  your  chicks 
are  to  arrive  and  keep  them  quiet  upon  china  eggs 
till  your  chicks  are  ready.  If  two  or  three  chicks 
are  slipped  under  a  hen  at  night,  she  will  think  she 
has  hatched  them  and  take  the  rest  of  the  brood 
without  objection. 

The  cockerels  should  be  separated  from  the  pullets 
as  soon  as  they  show  their  sex  and  fattened  for  broil- 
ers. Get  them  off  to  market  as  soon  as  they  weigh 
two  pounds.  The  earlier  your  broilers  go  to  market, 
the  better  price  will  they  bring.  This  is  especially 
true  of  Leghorns,  which  make  excellent  broilers  but 
are  poor  fryers. 

2. — BUYING  BREEDING  STOCK. — For  the  back- 
lotter  who  can  keep  only  a  few  fowls,  and  the 


14  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

side-line  poultry  keeper  who  has  a  taste  for  good 
birds,  there  is  much  to  be  said  in  favor  of  buying 
breeding  stock  to  begin  with.  You  get  fewer  birds 
for  your  money,  but  you  get  better  ones — that  is,  if 
you  pay  a  fair  price  for  them.  For  $25  you  can  buy 
a  trio  of  thoroughly  good  birds,  and  the  chicks  you 
hatch  the  first  year  from  these  will  give  you  a  good 
start  toward  a  flock  of  choice  birds.  Sometimes  it  is 
a  good  plan  to  raise  your  pullets  and  then  buy  a 
pure-bred  male  of  good  stock  to  mate  to  the  best  six 
or  eight  of  them. 

3. — BUYING  HATCHING  EGGS. — Many  persons 
consider  hatching  eggs  the  very  best  way  to  get  a 
start  with  first-class  stock,  but  there  are  more 
chances  to  be  taken  than  in  buying  either  chicks  or 
breeding  stock.  If  you  are  fortunate  in  your  hatch- 
ing, you  will  probably  get  more  birds  for  your  money 
than  in  buying  stock,  but  eggs  that  have  traveled  a 
long  distance  do  not  always  hatch  satisfactorily,  and 
even  when  infertile  eggs  are  replaced,  hatching  one 
or  two  with  cheaper  eggs  is  troublesome,  and  there 
is  always  a  chance  that  the  birds  hatched  will  be 
just  ordinary  stock.  When  the  eggs  are  purchased 
from  near-by  breeders  there  is  a  better  chance  of 
success. 

LOCATING  THE  POULTRY  FARM 

Most  of  us  have  to  raise  poultry  where  we  find  it 
convenient  to  live,  and  poultry  is  so  adaptable  that  it 
will  thrive  wherever  human  beings  can  live.  There 
are,  however,  three  essentials  in  the  location  of  a 
profitable  poultry  farm. 

Three  Essentials 

1. — WATER. — In  California,  especially,  a  good  sup- 
ply of  water  for  irrigation  is  of  prime  importance. 
Other  things  may  be  managed  without,  but  water  is 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  15 

the  sine  qua  non  of  poultry  raising.  Without  water 
the  poultryman  cannot  raise  the  green  feed  which 
his  fowls  must  have  if  they  are  to  be  profitable,  nor 
can  he  raise  the  fruit  and  vegetables  which  should  go 
along  with  the  raising  of  poultry  or  the  part  of  his 
feed  which  it  is  desirable  a  poultryman  should  raise. 
In  short,  he  is  handicapped  at  every  turn.  Some 
localities,  otherwise  perfect  for  poultry  growing, 
are  entirely  barred  because  of  the  scarcity  or  high 
cost  of  water. 

2.— FERTILE  SOIL.— It  has  been  the  custom  to 
recommend  a  light,  sandy  soil  as  best  for  poultry 
because  of  its  capacity  for  carrying  off  droppings 
and  disease  germs,  but  with  the  new  "back  to  the 
land"  movement  in  poultry  culture,  i.  e.,  the  move- 
ment away  from  too  intensive  culture  and  toward 
combination  of  fruit  and  poultry,  there  has  come  a 
new  emphasis  on  the  importance  of  good  soil.  The 
day  is  nearly  passed,  I  hope,  when  we  shall  see  cer- 
tain kinds  of  soil  advertised  as  "good  for  chickens, 
but  not  for  fruit."  Land  that  is  not  good  enough  for 
fruit  is  not  good  enough  for  chickens,  and  the  best 
fruit  land  is  none  too  good.  There  is  nothing  better 
than  a  decomposed  granite  soil  if  it  has  water,  but 
even  adobe,  bad  as  it  is  for  chickens,  may  be  made 
tolerable  if  cultivated  sufficiently. 

3.— TRANSPORTATION  FACILITIES. — The  best  loca- 
tion for  a  poultry  farm  is  within  easy  reach  of  a 
large  city.  The  next  best  is  close  to  a  railroad  within 
a  hundred  miles  of  that  city.  Indeed  it  is  a  question 
whether  a  good-sized  tract  of  land  at  a  distance,  but 
with  transportation,  is  not  better  than  a  small  tract 
close  to  market.  The  important  thing  is  that  the 
producer  be  convenient  to  the  railroad.  If  he  must 
haul  his  products  six  or  seven  miles  over  a  rough 
road,  it  is  good-by  to  any  possible  profits. 


16  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

Other  Considerations 

Three  other  considerations  in  regard  to  location 
should  be  aimed  for  if  possible,  but  done  without  if 
necessary.  These  are: 

1. — PROXIMITY  TO  OTHER  POULTRYMEN. — Asso- 
ciation with  others  in  the  same  business  is  always  a 
help,  and  in  none  more  than  in  work  with  poultry. 
Such  poultry  colonies  as  those  at  Gardena,  San  Ga- 
briel and  Arlington,  not  to  mention  Petaluma  and  a 
hundred  towns  in  Northern  California,  are  of  great 
advantage  to  the  men  who  compose  them.  Supplies 
are  bought  at  wholesale  prices,  when  otherwise  they 
would  be  purchased  at  retail,  and  in  many  associa- 
tions products  are  collected  and  marketed  for  the 
producers.  On  the  other  hand,  the  small  producer,  if 
he  has  the  land,  may  be  able  to  build  up  a  profitable 
retail  business  in  a  suburban  town  where  there  are 
not  many  other  producers — if  there  is  such  a  town  in 
California. 

2. — DRAINAGE. — Some  drainage  for  poultry  runs 
is  vital,  for  water  standing  on  the  ground  where 
fowls  are  kept  is  always  a  source  of  disease,  but  it  is 
usually  possible  on  several  acres  of  land  to  find  one 
point  which  is  sufficiently  higher  than  the  rest  to 
insure  good  drainage. 

3. — A  SOUTHERLY  EXPOSURE. — This  is  not  neces- 
sary, but  it  is  a  very  great  help  in  maintaining  health 
among  the  fowls.  A  gentle  southerly  slope  is  prob- 
ably the  best  of  all  locations  for  a  poultry  farm  or 
plant,  for  on  such  a  slope  there  can  never  be  lack  of 
sunshine,  that  best  of  germicides.  Given  open-front 
houses,  fronting  south  and  downhill,  there  should  be 
no  excuse  whatever  for  disease  of  any  sort. 

4. — PROTECTION  FROM  WIND. — An  exposed  hill- 
top is  never  a  good  place  for  chickens,  but  a  judicious 
arrangement  of  windbreaks  can  be  made  to  obviate 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  17 

this  difficulty.  Better  a  too  exposed  situation  than  a 
hollow  where  the  air  does  not  circulate  at  all  or  blows 
through  in  a  constant  draft.  Such  a  place  is  always 
unhealthful  and  should  be  avoided. 

How  Much  Land? 

The  amount  of  land  necessary  for  a  poultry  farm 
depends  on  the  breed  kept,  the  character  of  the  soil 
and  the  ability  of  the  caretaker  to  keep  yards  and 
houses  clean  and  sanitary.  In  general  a  thousand 
hens  to  five  acres  is  a  safe  number,  but  many  persons 
succeed  with  less  land. 

I  know  one  chicken  rancher  who  is  making  a  good 
living  with  2000  hens  on  eight  acres,  another  who  is 
very  successful  with  1500  hens  on  three  and  a  half 
acres,  and  still  another  who  does  a  nice  side-line 
business  with  from  300  to  400  hens  on  a  half  acre. 
These  men,  however,  are  experts,  and  the  first  two 
keep  White  Leghorns,  which  thrive  in  closer  confine- 
ment than  heavier  fowls  can  bear,  and  can  often  be 
raised  intensively  where  Rocks  or  Orpingtons  would 
be  a  failure. 

It  is  very  important  that  the  poultryman  raise  his 
own  green  feed,  and  as  much  as  possible  beside,  and 
the  initial  cost  of  the  land  is  a  small  matter  in  com- 
parison with  the  advantages  that  result  from  having 
room  for  stock  and  garden. 

How  Much  Capital? 

The  question  is  often  asked,  "How  much  capital  is 
needed  for  starting  a  poultry  farm  ?"  This  depends 
largely  upon  the  price  of  the  land.  In  the  most 
highly  cultivated  parts  of  the  state  land  suitable  for 
fruit  and  poultry  can  hardly  be  found  for  less  than 
$300  an  acre.  Close  to  markets  and  in  localities 
where  irrigating  water  can  be  bought  from  plants 


18  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

already  developed,  it  will  cost  more  than  this.  If  the 
land  is  bare,  houses  and  fences  must  be  built.  Stock 
is  to  be  bought  and  feed  for  the  first  year  provided. 
.These  are  expenses  which  the  prospective  poultry 
farmer  must  look  squarely  in  the  face,  and  it  is  better 
to  overestimate  than  to  underestimate.  The  figures 
would  be  something  like  this : 

5  acres  of  bare  land $1500 

Housing  and  fencing  for  1000  hens,  at 

about  $1  per  hen 1000 

Dwelling  house  (at  the  very  least) 500 

2000  Leghorn  chicks 200 

$3200 

It  is  not  necessary  to  pay  cash  for  the  land,  but  a 
heavy  indebtedness  is  a  most  serious  handicap,  and 
a  payment  of  at  least  one-third  cash  should  be  made. 
It  is  generally  considered  that  the  sale  of  the 
cockerels  as  broilers  will  pay  for  the  raising  of  both 
cockerels  and  pullets,  so  we  will  assume  that  the 
pullets  at  six  months  of  age  have  cost  nothing  but 
the  $200  that  was  paid  for  the  chicks. 

The  beginner  in  the  poultry  business  must  expect 
to  lose  money  the  first  year  and  to  spend  two  years 
in  bringing  his  plant  to  a  paying  basis.  To  be  sure 
the  hens  will  pay  their  own  way  if  they  are  bred-to- 
lay  hens,  but  there  are  many  other  expenses,  and  the 
man  who  has  not  the  money  for  necessary  equip- 
ment and  supplies  has  a  difficult  task  before  him. 
Probably  more  failures  in  poultry  work  are  due  to 
beginning  with  insufficient  capital  than  to  any  other 
one  thing. 

CHOOSING   A   BREED 

There  is  no  best  breed.  This  has  been  said  so  often 
that  it  is  axiomatic.  Nevertheless,  there  are  best 
breeds  for  given  purposes,  and  breeds  which  seem  to 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  19 

be  more  popular  or  more  profitable  in  certain  locali- 
ties. The  beginner,  if  he  is  wise,  will  find  out  by 
making  careful  inquiries,  visiting  poultry  ranches 
and  shows  and  reading  the  local  poultry  journals, 
what  breeds  are  generally  kept  in  his  neighborhood 
and  which  are  most  highly  valued.  The  experienced 
poultryman  may  find  it  to  his  advantage  to  launch 
a  new  breed,  but  never  the  beginner.  The  beaten 
path  is  always  safer. 

Breed  Classification 

Without  entering  into  a  detailed  classification  of 
the  various  breeds,  we  may  roughly  classify  them  as 
egg  breeds,  meat  breeds  and  general  purpose  breeds, 
but  the  term  "egg  breed"  is  a  misnomer,  for  some 
general  purpose  fowls  lay  quite  as  many  eggs  as  the 
so-called  "egg  breeds." 

Another  classification,  which  covers  all  kinds  of 
fowls  a  little  better  than  the  above,  considers  them 
as  well-defined  types;  and  we  have  (1)  the  game 
types,  represented  by  the  different  varieties  of 
Games;  (2)  the  laying  types,  represented  mainly  by 
the  Mediterranean  class — Leghorns,  Minorcas,  An- 
conas,  etc. ;  (3)  the  meat  types,  represented  by  the 
Asiatics — Brahmas,  Cochins  and  Langshans;  (4) 
the  general  purpose  types,  to  which  belong  our  hon- 
ored and  beloved  American  fowls — Rocks,  Reds 
and  Dottes,  and  the  English  Orpingtons;  (5)  de- 
formed types — Frizzles,  Silkies  and  Rumpless,  and 
(6)  bantams. 

White  Leghorns  for  Egg-Farms 

Time  has  proved  that  the  White  Leghorn  is  better 
adapted  than  any  other  breed  for  the  exclusive  pro- 
duction of  eggs,  and  it  holds  the  field  as  the  universal 
egg-farm  fowl.  From  time  to  time  some  enthusias- 


20  POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT 

tic  breeder  comes  forward  with  a  new  breed  which  is 
"just  as  good,"  but  the  White  Leghorn  still  holds 
undisputed  sway.  Should  it  ever  have  a  rival,  it 
would  probably  be  the  Ancona,  but  the  great  Ameri- 
can public  likes  a  white  bird,  and  the  Leghorn  will 
be  hard  to  displace. 

American  Breeds  for  the  Farm 

If  it  is  true  that  the  White  Leghorn  is  the  best 
fowl  for  commercial  egg-farms,  it  is  equally  true 
that  it  is  not  the  best  breed  for  the  general  farm  or 
the  back  lot.  In  the  first  place,  Leghorns  and  other 
high-flying  Mediterranean  fowls  will  go  over  fences ; 
clipping  wings  won't  stop  them.  They  must  be 
closely  confined  above  as  well  as  below,  or  out  they 
go.  In  the  second  place,  while  the  Leghorn  cockerels 
make  splendid  broilers  for  the  fancy  trade  and  bring 
good  prices,  they  are  not  satisfactory  for  a  family 
that  likes  real  chicken  meat,  and  the  farmer  and 
back-lotter  want  chicken  for  their  own  Sunday  din- 
ner. In  the  third  place,  the  Leghorn  hen,  when  she 
is  through  laying,  has  hardly  fifty  cents'  worth  of 
meat  on  her  bones,  while  a  Rock  or  Orpington  will 
always  bring  a  dollar. 

One  is  always  safe  in  choosing  for  the  farm  flock 
or  the  hen  yard  of  the  city  or  suburban  home  one  of 
the  three  American  breeds — the  Plymouth  Rock, 
Wyandotte  or  Rhode  Island  Red.  Rocks  and  Dottes 
come  in  all  desired  colors.  The  Red  is  always  red, 
but  there  is  a  variety  of  shades,  all  beautiful.  The 
Barred  Rock  is  said  to  be  the  most  popular  fowl  the 
country  over.  In  the  East  Wyandottes  are  perhaps 
a  little  more  highly  esteemed.  In  the  West  the  Rhode 
Island  Red  seems  to  be  more  popular.  There  can  be 
no  mistake  in  choosing  one  of  these  three,  and  there 
is  no  essential  difference  between  them.  Whatever 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  21 

difference  there  is,  is  a  matter  of  strain  and  not  of 
breed. 

Robinson  (Principles  and  Practice  of  Poultry  Cul- 
ture) classifies  Orpingtons,  Buckeyes  and  Javas  with 
Wyandottes,  Plymouth  Rocks  and  Rhode  Island  Reds 
as  general  purpose  fowls,  and  declares  that  "In  what 
are  called  the  practical  qualities — egg  production  and 
meat  properties — and  in  their  adaptation  to  climatic 
and  soil  conditions  and  environment,  they  are  sub- 
stantially the  same.  The  lighter  breeds  are  usually 
more  active  and  mature  earlier,  are  less  prone  to  put 
on  fat,  and  have  a  longer  productive  life  than  the 
heavier,  though  the  latter,  while  in  suitable  condi- 
tion, are  equally  good  layers.  For  table  use  the 
Rhode  Island  Reds  are  commonly  rated  rather  in- 
ferior to  Plymouth  Rocks  and  Wyandottes,  but  this 
is  wholly  a  matter  of  selection  for  meat  quality. 
Some  stocks  of  Reds  are  as  good  table  poultry  as  any 
of  the  other  breeds  of  the  class.  As  first  introduced 
the  Orpingtons  were  probably  of  higher  average 
table  quality  than  the  American  breeds  because  of 
more  careful  selection  along  that  line  in  England; 
as  found  now,  they  average  with  the  others." 

The  Orpingtons  cannot  be  excelled  as  broilers  and 
soft  roasters,  but  their  weight  inclines  them  to 
broodiness  in  summer,  which  is  a  great  detriment  to 
egg  production,  but  which  can  be  bred  out  by  careful 
selection.  They  are  also  very  hardy.  Both  Wyan- 
dottes and  Rhode  Island  Reds  make  fine,  quick- 
growing  broilers.  The  Light  Brahma  is  best  for 
large  roasters,  and  the  Plymouth  Rock  is  possibly 
the  best  all-round  table  fowl.  Certainly  it  is  in  great 
demand. 

Only  three  of  the  many  other  varieties  are  worth 
the  beginner's  serious  attention.  These  are  the 
Houdan,  the  Minorca  and  the  Ancona.  The  Houdan 


22  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

belongs  to  the  French  class,  is  a  non-sitter,  a  prolific 
layer  and  has  a  meaty  carcass  which  is  the  delight  of 
French  epicures.  If  egg-laying  and  table  qualities 
are  ever  combined  in  one  fowl,  it  is  probably  in  the 
Houdan ;  but  for  some  reason  it  has  not  been  largely 
bred  in  this  country.  The  Minorca  belongs  to  the 
Mediterranean  class,  but  is  larger  than  the  Leghorn 
and  therefore  a  better  table  fowl  and  lays  larger 
eggs.  The  Ancona  is  a  Mediterranean,  like  the  Leg- 
horn, and  its  friends  claim  for  it  all  the  fine  qualities 
of  the  Leghorn. 

Color  of  Eggs 

All  hens  of  the  Mediterranean  breeds  are  non- 
sitters  and  lay  white  eggs.  All  the  heavy  breeds  are 
sitters  and  lay  brown  eggs.  These  two  considera- 
tions must  necessarily  influence  choice  of  a  breed. 
The  San  Francisco  and  New  York  markets  pay  a 
little  higher  price  for  white  eggs.  Boston  prefers  a 
brown  egg,  and  Los  Angeles  has  no  choice,  provided 
only  the  egg  is  fresh.  The  person  who  wishes  to 
cater  to  a  white  egg  market  will  therefore  be  obliged 
to  select  one  of  the  Mediterranean  breeds,  but  the 
Southern  Californian  may  select  the  breed  he  likes, 
regardless  of  color. 

Only  One  Breed 

Whatever  breed  you  select,  get  the  best  stock  ob- 
tainable and  keep  that  one  breed  and  nothing  else. 
There  is  enough  to  learn  about  any  one  breed  to  keep 
the  average  person  busy  for  a  lifetime.  To  try  more 
is  to  court  failure. 

WHICH    SPECIALTY? 

In  an  age  of  specialists  like  the  present,  the  man 
or  woman  who  undertakes  to  raise  poultry  should 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  23 

have  clearly  in  mind  at  the  start  what  he  or  she  is 
to  aim  at. 

The  different  branches  of  the  poultry  industry  are 
generally  classified  as  (1)  egg  production,  (2)  meat 
production,  (3)  the  breeding  of  fancy  stock,  (4) 
hatching  baby  chicks.  But  raising  fowls  exclusively 
for  meat  production  has  proven  a  failure  so  many 
times  that  it  need  not  be  considered  as  a  separate 
branch  of  the  industry.  Meat  production  is  profit- 
able as  a  side  line  subordinate  to  the  production  of 
eggs,  and  has  importance  for  the  beginner  only  as  it 
relates  to  the  disposition  of  surplus  cockerels  and  old 
hens.  Any  breed  is  more  desirable  if  its  cockerels 
make  satisfactory  broilers,  but  the  broiler  business 
as  a  business  has  rarely  been  anything  but  a  failure. 

Breeding  fancy  stock  and  the  artificial  hatching  of 
chicks  in  large  numbers,  while  they  are  both  profit- 
able branches  of  the  industry,  are  what  might  be 
called  graduate  courses,  and  to  be  entered  into  only 
when  the  principles  of  breeding,  mating,  feeding  and 
incubation  have  been  mastered.  This  narrows  the 
possible  choice  for  the  beginner  to  egg  production 
only,  and  egg  production  is  the  foundation  on  which 
the  industry  rests. 

There  always  has  been  and  there  always  will  be  a 
demand  for  fresh,  wholesome  eggs,  and  this  demand 
is  increasing  as  the  virtues  of  the  egg  as  an  article 
of  diet  become  better  known.  High  prices  of  feed 
the  past  few  years  have  made  it  increasingly  difficult 
to  produce  eggs  at  a  profit,  but  this  very  difficulty  is 
forcing  breeders  and  students  alike  to  a  study  of  the 
principles  of  breeding  which  shall  eliminate  the 
drones  from  our  flocks.  There  is  plenty  of  profit  in 
producing  eggs  with  high-producing  hens,  and  no 
profit  at  all  in  keeping  drones.  The  sooner  this 
becomes  clear  to  all  concerned,  the  better  for  the 


24  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

industry.  Too  many  flocks  in  times  past  have  been 
managed  on  the  principle  that  "chickens  is  chickens," 
a  most  mistaken  idea.  Chickens,  like  cows,  are  pro- 
ducers or  they  are  nothing. 

In  planning  for  the  production  of  eggs,  the  merits 
and  demerits  of  the  different  classes  of  fowls  must  be 
carefully  weighed.  The  Mediterraneans  will  produce 
more  eggs,  but  the  heavy  breeds  produce  more  meat. 
It  is  also  possible  by  careful  selection  to  increase  the 
production  of  the  heavy  breeds  until  they  are  almost 
equal  to  the  lighter.  Some  of  the  best  layers  in 
recent  egg-laying  contests  have  been  Rocks,  Wyan- 
dottes,  Orpingtons,  Rhode  Island  Reds  and  Lang- 
shans.  On  the  other  hand,  the  frequent  broodiness 
of  the  heavy  breeds  is  a  trial,  but  this  can  be  bred 
out  to  a  large  extent.  If  there  is  any  difference  at 
all  in  quality  of  eggs,  it  is  in  favor  of  the  heavier 
breeds,  which  usually  lay  an  egg  with  a  more  solid 
shell  and  a  firmer  and  better  colored  yolk. 

I  believe  we  shall  see  in  the  next  few  years,  as 
prices  of  beef  rise  higher  and  higher,  an  increasing 
recognition  of  the  economic  importance  of  the 
heavier  breeds. 


FIG.    1 SCRATCHING-SHED   HOUSE  ON   BANDINI   POULTRY   RANCH,  RIVERSIDE 


FIG.    2 SHED-ROOF    COLONY    HOUSES    ON    MONROVIA   POULTRY    RANCH 


CHAPTER  II. 

Housing  and  Yarding 

SYSTEMS  OF  POULTRY  KEEPING 

The  two  systems  of  poultry  keeping  in  general 
use  are  known  as  extensive  and  intensive,  but  there 
are  so  many  degrees  of  intensiveness  and  so  many 
gradations  of  areas  over  which  fowls  are  permitted 
to  run,  that  it  is  hard  to  know  where  one  ends  and 
the  other  begins. 

The  Extensive  System 

The  extensive  system  in  general  may  be  defined 
as  a  system  by  which  fowls  are  kept  on  free  range 
without  yards.  Such  a  system  was  in  use  for  many 
years  at  Little  Compton,  R.  I.,  where  a  community 
of  farmers  built  up  by  the  simplest  methods  a  very 
successful  poultry  business.  The  houses  were  scat- 
tered over  the  farms,  allowing  each  flock  room  to 
forage  for  its  own  green  feed.  Feed  was  hauled  to 
the  houses  by  wagons  or  sleds  once  or  twice  a  day, 
and  the  method  of  feeding  was  of  the  simplest.  A 
system  like  this  is  the  easiest  and  safest  of  all,  but 
it  requires  a  great  deal  of  land. 

The  Intensive  System 

Fowls  kept  on  the  intensive  system  are  yarded 
more  or  less  closely,  some  in  yards  which  have 
hardly  space  for  the  fowls  to  move  about,  some  in 
yards  where  there  is  considerable  room  for  exer- 
cise, others  in  yards  where  a  good  deal  of  green  feed 
can  be  grown.  The  health  of  the  fowls  depends  not 


26 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 


so  much  on  the  size  of  yard  as  on  the  provisions 
which  are  made  for  sanitation  and  exercise.  Leg- 
horns kept  for  egg  production  are  often  kept  in  very 


//7   use 


I 


J 


FIG.   3 — DOUBLE  BUNS  AT  FRONT  OF  HOUSE 

close  confinement,  apparently  without  injury  to  their 
health,  but  where  breeders  are  closely  confined  fer- 
tility is  likely  to  suffer  sooner  or  later.  Figure  1 


In 


ion 


t/s  e 


A/ 


FIG.    4 DOUBLE    BUNS,    AT    FRONT    AND    REAR 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 


27 


shows  a  Southern  California  house  where  over  400 
Leghorns  are  kept  with  but  scant  yards. 

The  Two-yard  System 

Many  poultrymen  strike  an  average  between  the 
intensive  and  extensive  systems  by  keeping  their 
hens  in  houses  holding  from  fifty  to  one  hundred 
each,  and  having  two  runs  for  each  house.  The 
fowls  are  kept  in  one  yard  while  a  green  crop  is 
grown  in  the  other.  Some  such  system  is  absolutely 


povkry  /s  confined  u  $>/*»*//  ytrds 

L 

/ 

»/- 

1    • 

V 

y 

•x^ 

L 

TK 

y 

/ 

•iX' 

"     y 

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House 


HOV&C 


FIG.   5 TRIPLE   YARD   SYSTEM 

necessary  if  fowls  are  to  be  kept  for  a  series  of 
years  on  the  same  ground,  and  it  has  the  additional 
advantage  of  providing  a  good  deal  of  green  feed. 

These  double  runs  may  both  be  in  front  of  the 
house,  as  in  Figure  3,  or  one  may  be  at  the  rear, 
the  south  yard  being  used  in  winter  and  the  north 
in  summer.  (Figure  4.)  Where  a  house  has  sev- 
eral sections  the  plan  shown  in  Figure  5  may  be 
used,  the  fowls  being  confined  to  the  small  yards 


28  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

while  green  food  is  grown  in  the  large  yards.  After 
the  green  food  is  up  so  that  the  birds  cannot  easily 
kill  it  by  eating  at  it,  the  flocks  from  the  two  houses 
can  be  turned  on  it  alternately. 

The  Fruit  and  Poultry  Farm 

Safest  of  all  systems  of  poultry  keeping  in  Cali- 
fornia is  the  combination  fruit  and  poultry  ranch, 
for  the  following  reasons: 

1.  Water  is  so  scarce  and  so  high  priced  in  most 
localities    that    it    must  be  made  to  go  as  far  as 
possible.     Where  green  crops  must  be  raised  for 
chickens,  little  if  any  additional  water  is  required 
for  deciduous  trees. 

2.  Manure  is  a  valuable  by-product  of  poultry 
raising  which  ought  not  to  be  wasted,  and  it  cannot 
be  more  profitably  used  than  in  growing  fruit. 

3.  The  trees  furnish  shade  for  poultry,  and  the 
fowls  in  turn  destroy  insects  and  provide  fertilizer 
and  cultivation. 

4.  Instead  of  having  his  eggs  "all  in  one  basket" 
the  man  with  a  combination  ranch  has  them  in  two 
or  three. 

5.  The    droppings    and    other    litter    from    the 
houses  keep  up  the  supply  of  humus  in  the  soil. 
California  fruit  men  must  keep  more  stock  of  some 
sort,  and  chickens  are  more  available  than  cattle. 

On  such  a  farm  the  work  is  most  easily  done  if 
the  farm  is  divided  into  several  fields,  and  the 
chickens  housed  in  portable  houses  which  can  be 
moved  from  field  to  field  as  occasion  requires. 

REQUIREMENTS  OF  A  POULTRY  HOUSE 

The  natural  habitat  of  fowls  is  the  open  air.  The 
jungle  fowl  roosted  in  a  tree  and  foraged  for  its 
living  where  it  could  get  it.  Obviously,  these  con- 


FIG.    6 COLONY    HOUSES    ON    RANCH    AT    ARLINGTON 


FIG.     7 COLONY     HOUSE     WITH     SEPARATE     SCRATCHI^G-SHED,     IN     USE    AT 

OREGON    STATION 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  29 

ditions  cannot  be  met  when  fowls  are  kept  arti- 
ficially, but  the  more  nearly  they  can  be  approxi- 
mated, the  better  for  the  health  and  vigor  of  the 
fowls.  The  requirements  of  a  sanitary,  healthful 
poultry  house  are: 

1 — SUNSHINE. — Any  house  that  does  not  admit 
the  sun  is  unsanitary,  no  matter  how  well  planned 
otherwise.  Making  the  house  front  south  and  hav- 
ing its  windows  high,  if  it  must  have  windows,  and 
its  front  so  that  it  can  be  open  except  in  stormy 
weather,  will  meet  the  sunshine  requirement.  An 
east  front  is  nearly  as  good  as  a  south  front  and 
better  in  this  respect,  that  it  provides  afternoon 
shade. 

2. — FRESH  AIR. — Roup,  catarrh,  bronchitis  and  a 
dozen  other  ailments  follow  in  the  train  of  bad  venti- 
lation. The  open  front  is  good  as  far  as  it  goes, 
but  a  house  open  in  front  and  closed  on  the  other 
three  sides  is  close  in  warm  or  foggy  weather,  and 
there  should  be  windows  or  ventilators  at  the  rear 
which  can  be  opened  or  closed  as  the  weather  de- 
mands. 

3. — PROTECTION. — Protection  must  be  provided 
from  (1)  wind,  (2)  rain,  (3)  too  much  sunshine, 
(4)  rats,  weasels  and  other  vermin. 

In  order  to  secure  protection  from  the  wind,  the 
house  must  face  away  from  the  direction  from 
which  come  the  worst  winds.  This,  in  California, 
is  north,  so  it  is  very  desirable  for  this  as  well  as 
for  other  reasons  that  the  house  front  south  or 
southeast. 

But  our  rains  come  from  the  south  and  east,  so 
a  house  which  avoids  the  wind  gets  the  rain.  In 
Southern  California,  where  the  winter  rainfall  is 
small,  a  very  satisfactory  house  is  the  portable  col- 
ony house  which  can  be  turned  to  face  in  any  direc- 


30  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

tion.  If  the  scratching  shed  is  built  separately,  as 
in  the  illustration  of  the  houses  used  at  the  Oregon 
Station,  the  house  need  not  contain  more  than  two 
square  feet  per  fowl.  A  house  6x8  feet  would  thus 
suffice  for  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  birds,  and  a 
house  8  x  10  feet  would  hold  thirty-five  or  forty, 
which  is  all  the  beginner  should  put  in  one  house. 
In  this  case  the  scratching  pen  with  its  sloping  roof 
could  front  north  and  would  give  shelter  from  both 
sun  and  rain. 

The  shed-roofed  house  fronting  south  receives  too 
much  sun  in  the  winter  time  for  California,  where 
the  February  hot  spell  is  as  much  to  be  expected  as 
the  January  cold  spell.  If  there  is  a  covered  scratch- 
ing pen  like  the  one  mentioned  above,  this  will  not 
matter.  If  the  hens  have  no  shade  except  what  the 
house  supplies,  there  will  need  to  be  curtains  or 
shutters  or  a  door,  hinged  at  the  top,  which  can 
be  raised  to  make  a  little  porch  in  front  of  the  house. 
This  is  one  of  the  most  satisfactory  ways  of  deal- 
ing with  both  sun  and  rain  in  a  small  house.  Where 
a  gable-roofed  house  is  used,  as  at  the  Oregon  Sta- 
tion (Fig.  7),  there  is  no  such  problem.  A  gable- 
roofed  house,  with  the  front  slope  of  the  roof  shorter 
answers  the  same  purpose  as  the  shed-roof  house 
with  raised  door. 

The  best  protection  against  both  rats  and  damp- 
ness is  a  cement  floor  and  foundation.  This  is  not 
practicable  when  the  movable  colony  houses  are 
used,  nor  is  it  needed.  To  make  a  good  foundation 
for  a  permanent  house,  excavate  about  three  inches 
and  fill  with  a  mixture  of  one  part  Portland  cement, 
three  parts  clean,  sharp  sand  and  three  parts  crushed 
rock.  On  the  surface  of  this  foundation  put  a  mix- 
ture of  pure  cement  and  water  to  fill  up  the  holes 
in  the  surface.  A  concrete  floor  is  hardly  more  ex- 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  31 

pensive  than  a  board  floor,  and  it  is  so  much  more 
sanitary  than  a  dirt  floor  that  it  is  well  worth  while. 

4. — ROOM  FOR  EXERCISE. — In  bad  weather  this  is 
best  secured  by  the  combination  scratching  shed  and 
roosting  house,  in  which  part  of  the  house  is  open 
scratching  shed  and  part  enclosed  roosting  quarters, 
as  in  Figure  1,  or  by  a  model  which  is  quite  gen- 
erally used  at  state  experiment  stations  and  also  in 
the  government  work.  In  this  house  the  roosts, 
with  droppings  board  underneath,  occupy  half  the 
house,  facing  the  front,  and  the  nests  are  built  under 
the  roosting  platform,  opening  either  in  front  or 
outside  behind  the  roosts,  and  the  whole  floor  is 
covered  with  scratching  litter.  In  a  very  rainy  cli- 
mate some  such  arrangement  would  be  almost  a 
necessity,  but  for  California  the  roofed  scratching 
pen  is  ample  protection.  (Fig.  10). 

5. — SIMPLICITY  OF  CONSTRUCTION. — The  simpler 
the  construction  of  the  poultry  house,  the  better. 
Both  economy  and  cleanliness  make  this  desirable. 
An  open  front,  with  some  means  of  letting  a  current 
of  air  through;  roosts  which  are  protected  from 
drafts;  and  some  place,  inside  or  out,  where  the 
fowls  can  scratch  in  all  weathers;  these  are  the  re- 
quirements of  a  poultry  house  for  the  comfort  of 
the  fowls.  Add  to  these  movable  roosts  and  drop- 
pings boards,  so  that  each  may  be  taken  out  and 
washed  with  disinfectant,  and  you  have  all  that  is 
necessary.  Four  square  feet  per  fowl  must  be  al- 
lowed when  the  scratching  pen  is  inside,  but  only 
two  square  feet  if  the  scratching  pen  is  outside  and 
the  birds  need  the  house  only  for  sleeping.  A  square 
house  is  cheaper  than  any  other  shape,  and  a  shed 
roof  cheaper  than  a  gable. 

Every  house  that  the  attendant  is  expected  to 
enter  should  be  made  sufficiently  high  for  him  to 


32 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 


stand  in  it  comfortably.  Seven  feet  in  front  and 
five  feet  at  the  rear  is  a  good  height  for  a  house 
with  a  shed  roof.  A  house  with  a  gable  would  need 
to  be  a  little  higher.  A  house  which  contains  only 
roosts  need  not  be  more  than  five  feet  in  front. 

It  must  always  be  remembered  in  planning  a  poul- 
try house  that  Rocks,  Orpingtons  and  other  fowls 
of  the  heavy  breeds  require  more  room  than  Leg- 
horns and  other  Mediterraneans.  A  house  that  will 
house  fifty  Orpingtons  will  hold  about  sixty-five 


FIG.  8 CANVAS  COVERED  SCRATCHING  SHED 

Leghorns.  So,  if  we  allow  four  square  feet  for  the 
larger  fowl,  three  or  three  and  one-half  feet  will 
accommodate  a  Leghorn. 

THE  COLONY  HOUSE 

Without  doubt  the  colony  house  holding  a  dozen 
to  forty  hens  is  the  most  popular  and  the  most  gen- 
erally useful  poultry  house.  Where  a  very  large 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 


33 


number  of  fowls  is  kept  intensively,  the  long  house 
may  be  more  economical,  but  for  the  farm  where  a 
hundred  or  less  are  kept,  for  the  fancy  breeder  who 
is  obliged  to  keep  his  hens  in  small  flocks,  and  for 
the  back  lotter  who  can  keep  but  a  few  at  the  best, 
the  colony  house  is  best.  Especially  is  it  well  adapted 


FIG.   9 FRAMEWORK  FOR  GOOD  PORTABLE  COLONY  HOUSE 

to  our  California  conditions,  where  fowls  need  a 
maximum  of  fresh  air  and  a  minimum  of  protec- 
tion from  the  weather,  and  where  scarcity  of  water 
and  high  prices  of  land  make  it  desirable  in  many 
localities  that  both  land  and  water  and  the  fertilizer 
which  is  a  by-product  of  poultry  raising  be  used  to 
the  utmost. 

On  the  farm  there  is  nothing  better  than  colony 
houses  holding  twenty-five  fowls  apiece,  scattered 
through  field  and  orchard,  so  far  apart  that  each 
flock  will  have  room  to  forage  without  eating  up  the 
green  crops  which  may  be  growing.  These  houses 
would  be  about  8  x  10  feet,  and  being  portable,  they 


34  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

can  have  no  scratching  sheds,  and  must  have  room 
to  shelter  the  hens  when  they  need  shelter.  A  house 
8  x  10  feet  should  give  comfortable  room  for  twenty 
heavy  or  twenty-five  light  hens.  They  can  be  moved 
from  place  to  place  as  circumstances  require,  can 
be  used  with  a  heater  for  brooding  young  stock, 
and  afterward  with  heater  removed  for  the  grow- 
ing pullets.  The  colony  house  is,  in  fact,  the  uni- 
versal house.  Four  such  houses  would  house  a  flock 
of  100  Leghorns,  or  eighty  to  eighty-five  Rocks  and 
would  cost  not  to  exceed  $1.00  per  hen.  It  is  im- 
possible to  approximate  the  cost  more  nearly  than 
this,  for  cost  of  materials  differs  and  the  houses  are 
considerably  cheaper  when  built  by  the  owner  than 
when  labor  is  hired.  The  shed  roof  style  with  open 
side,  or  the  gable  roof  style  with  open  end,  are 
equally  suitable,  but  the  shed  roof  is  cheaper.  If 
the  house  is  built  on  runners  it  can  be  easily  hauled 
from  place  to  place.  ,  ' 

Whatever  plan  is  used,  the  house  must  be  built 
in  such  a  way  that  there  will  be  no  cracks  to  let 
drafts  in.  Matched  lumber  is  best  for  the  purpose, 
but  even  with  matched  lumber  it  is  difficult  to  make 
the  sides  sufficiently  tight.  Probably  the  best  way 
to  eliminate  drafts  is  to  line  with  some  sort  of  build- 
ing paper.  Rough  boards  battened  are  sometimes 
used,  but  one  cannot  be  sure  of  tight  seams. 

In  large  houses  it  is  a  good  plan  to  use  matched 
ceiling  back  of  the  roosting  platform  and  above 
it,  but  this  makes  a  portable  house  too  heavy,  and 
building  paper  is,  after  all,  quite  as  good  for  this 
climate. 

Colony  houses  with  a  run  for  each  house  are  quite 
generally  used,  both  at  experiment  stations  and  on 
small  poultry  plants,  East  and  West,  and  I  think  they 
are  growing  in  favor,  but  they  are  not  quite  as 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  35 

economical  of  labor  as  the  long  house  which  has  long 
been  characteristic  of  the  intensive  plant.  It  takes 
longer  to  go  from  yard  to  yard  on  the  colony  sys- 
tem than  from  pen  to  pen  of  a  long  house,  but  this 
objection  can  be  obviated  by  placing  the  houses 
along  an  alley,  with  the  front  of  each  to  the  alley. 

THE  LONG  HOUSE 

More  birds  can  be  kept  at  less  expense  for 
labor  and  housing  in  a  long  house  than  in  any  other 
way.  When  several  hundred  birds  are  kept  in  one 
long  house,  it  is  generally  thought  wise  not  to  put 
more  than  fifty  together  in  one  apartment,  though 
some  poultrymen  find  that  they  can  keep  100  to 
advantage.  Where  100  birds  are  kept  in  one  flock 
instead  of  in  two,  each  bird  has  twice  as  much  floor 
space  to  move  about  in  as  if  the  pens  were  half  as 
large.  Fifty  birds,  for  instance,  would  require  200 
square  feet  of  house  room  if  kept  by  themselves,  and 
each  bird  would  have  but  the  200  feet  to  move  about 
in.  Put  the  100  birds  in  400  square  feet  of  floor 
space,  and  each  bird  has  400  feet. 

A  good  plan  for  a  long  house  is  twenty  feet  wide 
and  100  feet  long,  eight  feet  high  in  front  and  five 
feet  high  in  the  rear,  and  is  divided  by  sixteen-foot 
partitions  into  five  sections.  The  partitions  do  not 
entirely  separate  the  sections,  an  alley  four  feet 
wide  being  left  the  whole  length  of  the  front  of  the 
building,  so  that  every  fowl  may  roam  over  the  whole 
2000  feet.  Each  section  contains  roosting  and 
scratching  room  for  100  Rocks  or  120  Leghorns,  so 
the  entire  house  will  house  500  Rocks  or  600  Leg- 
horns. This  house  is  recommended  by  Director 
Quisenberry  of  the  Missouri  Experiment  Station, 
and  is  similar  to  many  in  use  in  this  state. 

A  laying  house  designed  for  1000  hens  is  twenty 


36 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 


feet  wide  and  240  feet  long,  with  gable  roof  of  un- 
equal span,  being  nine  feet  high  at  the  ridge  pole, 
seven  feet  in  front,  and  five  feet  at  the  rear.  The 
pens  are  twenty  feet  square  and  hold  about  eighty 
hens  each. 

It  is  generally  considered  that  hens  will  lay  more 
eggs  when  they  are  kept  in  flocks  of  not  over  fifty. 
On  the  other  hand  they  can  be  more  economically 
cared  for  in  flocks  of  100  hens,  and  experts  are  still 
trying  to  find  the  happy  mean  where  economy  in 
care  coincides  with  the  maximum  health  and  vigor 
of  the  flock. 

In  a  long  house  intended  for  breeders,  the  sections 
will  be  much  smaller  if  breeding  pens  are  to  be 
kept  separately.  If  the  breeders  are  to  be  kept  in 
large  flocks  with  several  males  to  each,  the  house 
need  not  differ  from  the  laying  house. 

THE  FARM-FLOCK  HOUSE 

Sometimes  the  farmer  does  not  find  it  convenient 


FIG.    13 FLOOR    PLAN    FOR    FARMERS    DOUBLE    HOUSE.       IT    IS    14x28    AND 

ACCOMMODATES    125   LEGHORNS   OR   100   HEAVY    HENS. 

to  scatter  his  fowls  over  the  place  in  colony  houses, 
but  prefers  keeping  them  in  one  large  flock.  For 
this  purpose  a  house  fourteen  feet  square  is  recom- 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  37 

mended  by  Director  Quisenberry.  It  will  hold  from 
fifty  to  sixty  hens.  If  more  than  this  number  are 
to  be  kept,  it  should  be  built  14  x  28  feet,  and  divided 
into  two  sections  of  14  x  14  feet  each.  Such  a  house 
with  two  yards,  each  containing  an  acre  of  land, 
which  can  be  cultivated  in  turn,  will  be  found  a  most 
satisfactory  home  for  the  farm  flock  of  100  hens 
or  for  the  suburban  place  of  several  acres  where 
two  acres  can  be  devoted  to  poultry.  If  the  two 
acres  of  land  is  planted  to  fruit  trees  it  will  yield 
an  additional  income. 

A  MODEL  CALIFORNIA  HOUSE 

Housing  in  California  is  not  essentially  different 
from  housing  in  the  East.  In  two  particulars,  how- 
ever, slight  allowance  must  be  made  for  California 

*-     -8 n 


8' 


TTJV 


Jd 

IT"1 

GrA 

(0, 

1 

FIG.    16  —  HOUSING   AND   YARDING 


climate.  The  open  front  house  is  in  quite  general 
use  East  and  West,  but  in  the  East  provision  must 
be  made  for  shutting  out  the  winter  storms.  This 
is  not  necessary  in  most  portions  of  California,  but 
on  the  other  hand  our  sunny  climate  necessitates 
more  generous  provision  for  shade. 

A  long  house  which  is  admirably  adapted  to  Cali- 
fornia climate  was  built  by  the  late  S.  C.  Gregg  on 
what  is  now  the  ranch  of  Sinclair  Brothers  at  Ar- 


38  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

lington,  Riverside  County.  Mr.  Gregg  had  hunted 
far  and  wide  for  the  design  best  suited  to  this  cli- 
mate and  finally  worked  out  the  model,  two  views 
of  which  are  shown  in  Figures  14  and  15. 

In  Figure  14  is  a  view  of  nearly  the  whole  length 
of  the  house  from  a  distance.  It  consists  of  a  series 
of  roosting  houses  sixteen  feet  long  and  about  eight 
feet  deep,  with  scratching  sheds  between,  two  roost- 
ing houses  being  alternated  with  two  scratching 
sheds.  The  ground  plan  of  two  houses  and  two 
scratching  sheds  is  shown  in  Figure  16.  Feed 
boxes  and  water  troughs  are  built  along  the  front 
of  each  scratching  shed,  and  the  trapnests  are  in 
front  of  the  roosting  houses. 

Each  house  holds  fifty  hens.  All  floors  are  of 
cement,  and  the  roosts  are  unusually  low — about 
eighteen  inches  from  the  floor — so  that  there  may 
be  no  bruised  feet  from  jumping  down  upon  the 
hard  floor. 

Figure  15  shows  the  rear  view  of  another  long 
laying  house  on  this  ranch. 

In  both  these  houses  the  wide  eaves,  which  meas- 
ure about  six  feet  on  the  slope,  afford  all  necessary 
protection  from  rain.  The  houses  front  east. 

A  NOVEL  BREEDING  HOUSE 

A  house  designed  for  breeders  is  shown  in  Fig- 
ure 17.  It  is  built  with  gable  roof  and  divided  in 
the  middle  by  an  alley.  The  pens,  of  which  there 
are  four  on  each  side  of  the  alley,  are  about  7  x  10 
feet,  and  hold  twelve  to  fifteen  birds.  Fountains  and 
feed  boxes  are  next  the  alley,  and  the  roosting  plat- 
forms are  along  the  outside  of  the  building.  The 
end  of  one  of  them  may  be  seen  in  the  nearest  pen 
in  the  picture,  just  inside  the  hinged  door.  The 
characteristic  feature  of  this  house  is  the  doors, 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  39 

hinged  at  the  bottom,  which  may  be  seen  open  in 
the  picture,  each  just  outside  its  roosting  platform. 
In  windy  or  rainy  weather  these  doors  are  closed, 
thus  affording  ample  protection.  In  warm  weather 
they  are  down,  as  in  the  picture,  providing  abundant 
ventilation. 

THE  TARRED-PAPER  HOUSE 

A  very  cheap  portable  coop  or  house  consists  of 
a  frame  of  light  material — 1  x  2  inches  answers  very 
well — covered  with  tarred  building  paper.  When 
tarred  paper  is  used  for  the  roof,  the  top  should  be 
covered  quite  closely  with  boards,  for  this  paper 
tears  easily,  and  boards  a  foot  apart  on  the  sides 
give  a  much  better  foundation  for  the  paper  than 
the  frame  alone. 

A  very  cheap  coop  may  be  made  of  the  above 
frame,  with  roof  of  shakes  or  paper,  and  the  sides 
and  back  covered  with  burlap  sacks. 

Fig.  18  shows  a  portable  coop  of  novel  design 
which  was  seen  in  a  back  yard  in  Riverside. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Incubation 

WHEN  TO  HATCH 

There  is  a  time  for  all  things,  it  has  been  wisely 
said,  and  this  is  particularly  true  of  hatching 
chickens.  You  can  set  a  hen  in  California  any 
month  of  the  year,  but  it  is  not  always  wise  to  do  it. 

It  is  generally  considered  that  the  hatching  sea- 
son begins  in  January  and  ends  in  May  or  June, 
but  many  poultrymen  hatch  broilers  in  the  fall,  and 
many  hatcheries  run  from  November  till  July. 
Theoretically  there  is  little  reason  for  not  hatching 
in  June  and  July,  for  our  summer  is  nearly  always 
late.  Practically  it  is  likely  to  be  time  wasted,  for 
these  late  hatched  chicks  do  not  grow  as  fast  as  the 
earlier  ones,  the  cockerels,  when  marketed  bring 
considerably  less,  and  the  pullets  will  not  lay  until 
January  when  the  price  of  eggs  is  on  the  decline. 
The  labor  of  caring  for  summer  chicks  is  also 
greater,  or  seems  so,  and  green  feed  is  less  abundant 
than  in  winter  and  spring. 

In  general  the  main  thing  to  consider  in  hatching 
is  that  the  stock  be  hatched  in  order  to  reach  laying 
maturity  at  the  right  time.  Pullets  for  winter 
layers  must  be  hatched  early  enough  to  reach  lay- 
ing maturity  by  the  first  of  November,  and  yet  not 
so  early  that  they  will  molt  in  the  fall.  Leghorns 
can  usually  be  counted  on  to  lay  at  six  months  of 
age;  so  April  is  the  best  month  for  hatching  Leg- 
horns. Rocks  and  Orpingtons,  on  the  other  hand, 
will  not  settle  down  to  steady  laying  under  seven 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  41 

or  eight  months,  though  there  are  many  individuals 
that  begin  to  lay  earlier,  so  one  can  hardly  afford 
to  hatch  these  breeds  later  than  March  if  he  wants 
fall  eggs.  If  they  are  hatched  as  early  as  the  first 
of  March,  they  are  likely  to  molt  if  fed  too  heavily, 
so  the  breeder  must  guide  his  bark  between  the 
evils  of  late  hatching  on  the  one  hand  and  those  of 
fall  molting  on  the  other.  Pullets  hatched  in  the 
last  two  weeks  of  March  are  not  very  likely  to  molt 
in  the  fall,  and  they  should  be  ready  to  lay  by  No- 
vember first  if  they  are  well  fed. 

January  is  the  time  for  hatching  early  broilers 
and  fryers.  This  is  more  profitably  done  with  the 
heavier  breeds  than  with  the  Mediterraneans,  for 
they  reach  broiler  size  sooner.  As  an  Orpington 
of  good  strain  should  weigh  two  pounds  at  nine  or 
ten  weeks  of  age,  January  and  February  hatched 
broilers  will  be  ready  for  market  in  time  to  bring 
the  cream  of  the  high  prices,  which  is  usually  from 
35  to  40  cents  per  pound,  live  weight. 

September  is  a  good  time  for  hatching  either 
broilers  or  roasters.  There  is  a  particularly  good 
market  for  soft  roasters  about  the  first  of  February 
when  these  September  hatched  birds  should  weigh 
from  six  to  eight  pounds. 

In  planning  for  fall  and  winter  hatching,  the  cost 
of  eggs  should  be  taken  into  account.  In  August 
market  eggs  are  worth  35  or  40  cents  a  dozen,  in  Jan- 
uary about  the  same,  and  in  December  a  little  more. 
In  March  they  will  not  bring  over  25  cents  retail. 
Thus  the  chick  that  is  hatched  in  January  costs,  out- 
side of  expense  of  hatching,  about  twice  as  much 
as  the  April  chick.  On  the  other  hand,  January 
chicks  in  this  climate  are  hardier  than  April  hatched 
chicks.  A  larger  per  cent  of  the  chicks  hatched 
will  live,  and  they  will  reach  market  size  earlier. 


42  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

Pullets  hatched  in  the  fall  are  usually  found  to  be 
better  layers  than  those  hatched  in  the  spring. 
They  also  begin  to  lay  at  an  earlier  age.  Orpington 
pullets  hatched  in  September  or  October  lay  in 
March  or  April,  while  pullets  hatched  in  March  can 
hardly  be  expected  to  lay  before  October,  and  many 
will  delay  beginning  till  November.  On  the  other 
hand  the  pullets  which  mature  early  lay  more  small 
eggs  than  those  which  delay  their  laying  till  the 
eighth  month,  and  as  they  begin  to  lay  when  egg 
prices  are  at  the  lowest  point  they  can  hardly  be 
said  to  be  profitable  layers  for  the  first  three 
months. 

The  great  point  in  favor  of  the  fall  hatched  layer 
is,  that  being  the  daughter  of  a  hen  that  lays  in  the 
fall,  she  may  perhaps  be  expected  to  lay  more  fall 
eggs  than  a  spring  hatched  hen,  but  the  question 
of  inheritance  of  fecundity  has  not  been  settled  yet. 
If,  as  the  Maine  Station  recently  declared,  inheri- 
tance of  fecundity  comes  through  the  sire  and  not 
at  all  through  the  dam,  the  fact  that  the  mother  laid 
in  the  fall  does  not  indicate  that  the  daughter  will. 
But  this  is  a  delicate  question  and  one  that  is  open 
to  careful  investigation. 

HOW  TO  HATCH 

Except  on  questions  of  sanitation  and  hygiene, 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  lay  down  any  hard  and 
fast  rules  for"  the  management  of  a  flock  of  fowls. 
The  breed,  constitution,  age  and  individuality  of 
the  fowls,  the  location  and  size  of  the  farm  and  the 
taste  and  ability  of  the  poultryman  have  all  to  be 
considered  as  well  as  such  contingent  circumstances 
as  the  state  of  the  weather  and  the  price  of  feed. 

In  no  part  of  the  work  of  a  poultryman  is  this 
more  evident  than  in  choice  of  the  method  of  hatch- 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  43 

ing.  In  general,  it  is  better  for  the  beginner  to 
hatch  with  hens.  The  hen  understands  her  busi- 
ness better  than  an  incubator  can.  Hen-hatched 
chicks  are  usually  stronger  and  can  be  raised  with 
smaller  loss.  On  the  other  hand,  the  average  hen 
will  break  at  least  one  egg  and  kill  at  least  one 
chick  before  the  brood  is  safely  out  of  the  nest.  It 
is  rather  surprising  to  learn  that,  in  spite  of  the 
undoubted  superiority  of  the  hen  as  a  hatcher,  the 
average  proportion  of  chicks  hatched  by  hens  is  55 
per  cent,  as  against  about  50  from  incubators. 

After  considerable  experimental  work  on  meth- 
ods of  incubation,  the  Oregon  Station,  in  Bulletin 
100,  published  the  following  summary  of  results: 

1.  From  879  eggs  set,  incubators  hatched  533 
chicks,  or  60.6  per  cent. 

2.  From  279  eggs  set,  hens  hatched  219  chicks, 
or  78.8  per  cent. 

3.  Eliminating  eggs  broken  in  nests,  the  hens 
hatched  88.2  per  cent  of  eggs  set. 

4.  The  incubators  hatched  78.5  per  cent  of  "fer- 
tile" eggs,  and  the  hens  hatched  96.5  per  cent. 

5.  Eggs   incubated  artificially  tjested  22.7  per 
cent  as  unfertile,  while  those  incubated  by  hens 
tested  out  11.8  per  cent. 

6.  The  incubators  showed  16.6  per  cent  of  chicks 
"dead  in  the  shell,"  and  the  hens  2.8  per  cent. 

7.  Chicks  hatched  under  hens  weighed  heavier 
than  chicks  hatched  in  incubators. 

8.  The  mortality  of  hen-hatched  chicks  brooded 
in  brooders  was  10.8  per  cent  in  four  weeks  and  of 
incubator-hatched  chicks  33.5  per  cent. 

9.  The  mortality  of  hen-hatched  chicks  brooded 
under  hens  was  2.2  per  cent,  and  of  incubator  chicks 
49.2  per  cent. 

10.  In  other  tests  the  mortality  was  46.5  per 


44  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

cent  for  incubator  chicks  brooded  by  hens  and  58.4 
per  cent  for  incubator  chicks  brooded  in  brooders. 

11.  Hen-hatched  chicks  made  greater  gain  in 
weight  than  incubator  chicks,  whether  brooded  by 
hens  or  brooders. 

These  experiments  were  made  in  the  spring  and 
summer  months.  Had  they  been  made  in  January, 
February  and  March  results  would  probably  have 
been  more  to  the  credit  of  the  incubator,  for  incu- 
bator-chicks do  better  in  these  months  than  later, 
while  hen-hatched  chicks  have  the  advantage  in 
warmer  weather. 

Hatching  with  hens  is  also  cheaper  where  the 
hens  kept  are  of  a  sitting  breed.  Professor  Dryden, 
in  Bulletin  Six  of  the  Oregon  Agricultural  Experi- 
ment Station  estimates  the  cost  of  hatching  and 
brooding  equipment  for  100  chicks  at  $63.60,  while 
the  cost  by  the  natural  method  is  about  $25. 

But  all  these  reasons  for  using  hens  as  hatchers 
apply  only  to  the  breeder  who  keeps  a  sitting  breed. 
Naturally,  the  man  who  keeps  Leghorns,  Anconas, 
Campines  or  Buttercups,  cannot  keep  a  lot  of  heavy 
hens  just  for  hatching.  He  must  use  an  incubator, 
and  very  often  he  gets  quite  as  good  results  as  the 
man  who  uses  hens  alone.  I  visited  a  poultry  plant 
recently  where  White  Wyandotte  chicks  were  being 
hatched  by  hundreds  in  incubators,  while  the  yard 
was  full  of  broody  hens.  "I  can't  bother  with  hens," 
the  owner  said,  and  the  man  who  finds  hens  a 
"bother"  is  probably  wise  to  hatch  with  incubators. 
Some  people,  too,  have  a  knack  at  tinkering  with 
machines,  and  they  will  no  doubt  get  better  results 
with  incubators  than  others  who  hate  machinery. 

An  incubator  is  necessary  on  even  a  small  plant 
or  farm,  when  early  broilers  and  fryers  are  wanted. 
Hens  have  a  perverse  fashion  of  not  wanting  to  sit 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  45 

in  January  or  February.  Even  March,  if  it  hap- 
pens to  be  cold,  finds  most  of  them  disinclined  to  the 
duties  of  maternity.  Under  such  circumstances  the 
incubator  is  the  only  hope,  and  it  is  by  no  means  a 
forlorn  one.  Especially  successful  will  the  hatch- 
ing of  these  early  chicks  be  if  broody  hens  can  be 
found  to  mother  the  chicks.  It  will  be  noticed  in 
the  data  given  by  the  Oregon  Station  that  incubator- 
hatched  chicks  do  considerably  better  if  they  are 
brooded  by  hens,  and  while  this  is  not  always  pos- 
sible, it  can  often  be  managed.  As  soon  as  a  hen 
becomes  broody,  put  her  in  a  nest  away  from  the 
other  hens,  and  treat  her  just  as  if  she  were  to  be 
given  a  clutch  of  eggs.  When  the  incubator  hatch 
is  nearly  due,  give  her  a  few  eggs  to  hatch,  and  she 
will  mother  as  many  chicks  as  you  wish  to  give  her. 
The  chicks  should  all  be  given  her  while  she  is  still 
on  the  nest  or  as  soon  as  she  is  put  in  the  coop. 
When  a  hen  becomes  wonted  to  her  brood  she  will 
often  object  to  taking  more  chicks. 

On  any  farm  or  plant  where  chicks  are  hatched 
to  sell  an  incubator  is  a  necessity.  A  few  breeders 
do  advertise  hen-hatched  chicks,  but  it  is  so  difficult 
to  hatch  with  hens  in  large  numbers  that  only  few 
attempt  it.  The  manufacture  of  incubators  has 
reached  such  a  high  degree  of  development  that 
when  the  operator  comes  to  his  work  with  a  rea- 
sonable skill  satisfactory  results  are  to  be  expected. 
When  any  great  number  of  chicks  are  found  dead 
in  the  shell  at  the  close  of  the  hatch  it  is  more  than 
likely  that  inbreeding  or  weak  parent  stock,  which 
often  is  the  direct  result  of  inbreeding,  is  more  to 
blame  than  the  method  of  incubation. 

THE  HATCHING  EGG 

An  egg  consists  of  four  parts:     (1)   the  germ, 


46  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

(2)  the  albumen  or  white  which  under  incubation 
becomes  the  chick,  (3)  the  yolk,  which  is  intended 
to  furnish  a  supply  of  food  for  the  newly  hatched 
chick,  (4)  the  shell,  a  double  covering. 

The  germ,  whether  it  has  been  fertilized  or  not, 
may  be  seen  as  a  tiny  round  white  spot  on  the  yolk 
of  the  egg.  As  the  egg  is  about  65  per  cent  water, 
it  is  easy  to  see  that  water  plays  an  important  part 
in  the  diet  of  the  fowl  and  also  in  the  incubation 
of  the  egg. 

Selecting  Hatching  Eggs. 

Not  every  fertile  egg  is  a  good  hatching  egg.  Dis- 
card, in  selecting  the  eggs  you  are  to  set,  all  under- 
sized and  all  oversized  eggs.  The  undersized  eggs, 
if  they  hatch,  will  produce  undej^ized  chicks,  and 
the  oversized  eggs  are  very  likely  to  be  infertile. 
Discard  all  eggs  with  chalky  spots  in  the  shell  and 
all  that  are  rough  or  unevenly  colored.  Select  those 
of  uniform  size  and  shape  and  color,  for  you  want 
your  flock  to  produce  eggs  which  will  require  the 
least  possible  grading.  Select  also  the  firm-shelled 
eggs  and  those  of  a  size  you  can  market  as  "extras." 

Care  of  Hatching  Eggs 

Hatching  eggs  should  be  gathered  several  times 
a  day  in  warm  weather  lest  some  broody  hen  start 
incubation  ahead  of  time.  They  should  be  kept  in 
a  temperature  of  about  fifty  degrees,  and  turned 
every  day  to  keep  the  germ  from  settling  to  one 
side. 

Eggs  that  have  been  kept  more  than  two  weeks 
should  not  be  used  for  hatching,  and  one  week  is 
better.  The  sooner  incubation  is  begun  after  the 
egg  is  laid,  the  better  is  the  chance  of  hatching  a 
strong,  vigorous  chick.  When  eggs  have  traveled  a 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  47 

long  distance  it  is  usually  considered  necessary  to 
let  them  rest  for  a  day  before  putting  them  under 
the  hen. 

Fertility  and  Hatchability 

An  egg  may  be  fertile  and  yet  not  hatch.  A  chick 
may  hatch  and  still  not  live.  This  is  one  of  the 
problems  of  poultry  culture.  Certain  things,  such 
as  the  health  and  vigor  of  the  parent  stock,  the  care 
they  receive,  their  food  and  exercise,  the  age  and 
size  of  the  male  bird,  and  the  number  of  hens  he  is 
mated  to,  are  known  to  affect  fertility,  but  the  rela- 
tion between  fertility  and  hatchability  is  not  so 
easily  understood.  It  is  enough  for  us  to  know  that, 
other  things  being  equal,  the  more  perfect  the  physi- 
cal condition  of  the  breeding  stock  the  stronger  will 
be  the  germ  and  the  greater  the  likelihood  of  a  good 
hatch. 

HATCHING  WITH  HENS 

No  better  hatcher  has  yet  been  devised  than  the 
stupid  hen.  To  be  sure  she  breaks  eggs  and  tram- 
ples on  baby  chicks  and  our  patience  sometimes  be- 
comes pretty  threadbare  when  we  struggle  with  her 
disinclination  to  settle  down  on  a  new  nest;  never- 
theless, when  all  is  said,  she  is  the  best  there  is. 

Success  with  sitting  hens  is  largely  a  question 
of  patience,  sympathy  and  imagination  on  the  part 
of  the  caretaker.  He  must  be  able  to  "put  himself 
in  her  place,"  for  the  comfort  of  the  sitting  hen  is 
of  the  first  importance.  Is  she  too  warm?  Broken 
eggs  will  be  the  result.  Is  the  nest  too  shallow  so 
that  she  must  keep  a  strained  position  or  else  rest 
her  weight  upon  the  eggs?  Again,  broken  eggs 
will  result.  Has  she  more  eggs  than  she  can  cover 
properly?  At  hatching  time  some  of  the  chicks 
will  get  under  her  feet  and  perish  miserably.  Is 


48  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

she  worried  by  lice  or  mites?  She  will  leave  the 
nest  too  often  and  perhaps  ultimately  quit  before 
her  job  is  done. 

The  man  who  undertakes  to  hatch  with  hens  is 
entering  into  a  partnership,  and  he  cannot  fairly 
blame  the  "stupid  hen"  for  lack  of  the  intelligence 
he  might  have  furnished  and  didn't.  Alone  and 
unaided  Mother  Biddy  is  not  always  a  success  at 
incubation.  Her  instinct  plus  man's  intelligence 
makes  a  combination  which  cannot  be  beaten. 

Rules  for  Hen-hatching 

1.  Keep  all  sitting  hens  away  from  other  fowls. 

2.  Provide  shade,  water,  feed,  grit,  shelter  and 
a  chance  to  dust. 

3.  Give  no  hen  more  eggs  than  she  can  cover 
easily. 

4.  Dust  at  least  twice  during  incubation  with  a 
good  lice  powder. 

5.  Protect  from  mites  with  tobacco   stems   or 
powder  in  the  nest. 

6.  *  See  that  the  nest  is  carefully  shaped  to  fit  the 
hen  and  so  deep  that  she  will  not  need  to  rest  her 
weight  on  her  feet  to  avoid  breaking  the  eggs. 

7.  Remove  all  broken  eggs  as  soon  as  discovered. 
Wash  soiled  eggs  in  warm  water  and  replace  soiled 
nest  material. 

8.  See  that  the  hen  comes  off  every  day  to  eat, 
and  that  she  does  not  stay  off  too  long. 

9.  When  several  hens  are  sitting  at  once  let 
them  exchange  nests.    Some  hens  have  more  bodily 
warmth  than  others. 

10.  Test  all  eggs  the  seventh  or  eighth  day  and 
remove  all  absolutely  clear  eggs.     Neglect  of  this 
may  cause  considerable  loss. 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  49 

Nest  Boxes 

Fourteen  or  fifteen  inches  square  is  the  best  size 
for  a  nest  box,  but  if  it  is  longer  than  wide  it  will 
do  quite  as  well.  A  cracker  box  is  exactly  the  right 
size,  but  an  apple  box  answers  very  well.  It  is  bet- 
ter to  use  new  boxes  each  season,  but  a  box  that 
has  never  been  infested  with  mites  may  be  used 
again  if  it  has  been  thoroughly  washed  and  painted 
with  kerosene  and  carbolic  acid.  A  box  which  the 
mites  have  once  found  is  never  safe  afterward. 

When  you  are  sure  that  the  box  is  clean,  fill  the 
bottom  with  moist  dirt,  enough  to  shape  out  a  good- 
sized  nest,  and  cover  with  straw,  hay  or  excelsior. 
Both  the  comfort  of  the  hen  and  the  success  of  the 
hatch  depend  in  no  small  measure  on  the  shape  and 
depth  of  the  nest. 

Setting  the  Hen 

Night  is  the  time  for  setting  hens.  After  the  hen 
has  commenced  to  show  signs  of  broodiness,  she 
should  be  left  on  the  old  nest  for  a  couple  of  days. 
The  second  night,  after  dark,  transfer  her  gently 
to  the  new  nest,  put  a  couple  of  dummy  eggs  under 
her,  and  cover  her  with  another  box,  taking  care  to 
leave  plenty  of  ventilation.  Leave  her  covered 
twenty-four  hours,  then,  if  she  remains  on  the  nest 
after  being  uncovered,  or  comes  off  and  goes  back, 
she  is  ready  for  the  eggs.  If  she  comes  off  and 
returns  to  the  old  nest,  cover  her  up  again  and  let 
her  sit  on  the  dummy  eggs  another  twenty-four 
hours.  Nothing  is  ever  gained  by  hurrying  a  sit- 
ting hen,  and  you  may  spoil  your  hatch  by  attempt- 
ing it. 

Fifteen  eggs  are  generally  sold  as  a  setting,  but 
it  is  only  a  large  hen  that  can  cover  so  many,  and 


50  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

that  only  in  warm  weather.  Thirteen  eggs  are 
enough  for  the  largest  hen  in  winter,  and  a  small 
one  cannot  do  justice  to  more  than  eleven.  When 
you  have  a  setting  of  expensive  eggs  it  is  well  to 
divide  them  between  two  hens. 

Next  to  freedom  from  insect  pests,  shade  is  prob- 
ably the  greatest  item  in  a  sitting  hen's  comfort. 
She  is  hot  and  feverish  and  unable  to  move  about 
and  find  a  cool  spot  or  to  take  the  frequent  sip  of 
cool  water  that  means  so  much  to  a  hen.  In  cool 
weather  she  will  be  comfortable  in  any  well  venti- 
lated house  or  coop.  In  summer  there  is  no  place 
like  the  shade  of  a  large  tree.  These  details  seem 
too  minute  to  be  worth  while,  but  the  success  of  the 
hatch  often  depends  upon  just  such  little  things. 

The  Hen-Incubator 

Much  of  the  annoyance  and  worry  connected  with 
the  care  of  hen-mothers  will  be  avoided  if  a  good 
many  hens  are  set  at  the  same  time.  When  the  clear 
eggs  are  tested  out  on  the  seventh  day,  the  remain- 
ing eggs  may  be  given  to  part  of  the  hens  and  the 
rest  reset.  Then  when  the  hatch  comes  off,  the 
chicks  may  be  given  to  part  of  the  hens,  twenty  or 
twenty-five  to  each  hen,  and  the  other  hens  reset. 
In  this  way  ten  hens  could  easily  hatch  and  raise 
150  chicks  in  a  season,  and  if  a '  small  incubator 
were  set  to  help  out  the  hens  the  second  time,  they 
could  raise  200  chicks. 

There  are  several  devices  for  setting  a  number 
of  hens  in  compact  quarters,  and  these  are  known 
as  hen-incubators.  One  is  an  arrangement  by 
which  the  nests  are  banked  against  a  house,  each 
having  its  own  door,  so  the  hens  may  be  kept  con- 
fined except  when  they  leave  the  nest  to  eat.  By 
another  plan  the  nests  are  arranged  on  the  ground 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  51 

in  a  square  or  rectangle,  separated  from  each  other 
by  boards  and  covered  with  wire.  A  very  practi- 
cal incubating  coop,  accommodating  four  hens,  is 
recommended  by  the  Oregon  Station  (Bulletin  6). 
This  coop  serves  the  triple  purpose  of  incubator, 
brooder  and  colony  house.  It  is  five  feet  long  and 
three  feet  wide,  with  a  shed  roof  three  feet  high  at 
front  and  two  feet  at  back,  and  is  divided  into  four 
apartments.  Movable  partitions  of  canvas  or  bur- 
lap are  fastened  to  a  four-inch  or  six-inch  board  at 
the  bottom  and  to  a  crosspiece  at  the  top.  It  has 
an  outside  run  three  feet  long  for  each  hen,  cov- 
ered with  wire  netting,  as  shown  in  Fig.  21.  The 
runs  are  hooked  on  to  the  house  and  are  dis- 
pensed with  when  the  chicks  are  old  enough  to  be 
given  their  liberty.  The  door  on  the  front  is  hinged 
at  the  top  so  that  it  may  be  closed  in  rainy  weather, 
but  open  the  rest  of  the  time.  When  the  chicks  no 
longer  need  hovering  the  partitions  are  taken  out 
and  the  coop  is  used  as  roosting  house.  Fifty  chicks 
can  easily  be  brooded  at  once  in  such  a  coop  as  this 
by  two  hens,  and  the  coop  will  still  accommodate  the 
pullets  after  the  cockerels  are  removed.  Coop  is 
shown  in  Fig.  21. 

Testing  the  Eggs 

Whether  eggs  are  hatched  by  hen  or  incubator, 
they  should  be  tested  the  seventh  day.  An  egg  tester 
is  always  part  of  the  equipment  of  an  incubator, 
but  one  can  be  bought  for  a  trifling  amount  at  any 
supply  store.  When  a  fertile  egg  which  has  been 
incubated  seven  days  is  held  before  the  tester,  the 
chick  can  be  plainly  seen  inside  as  a  spider-like 
body.  An  infertile  egg  is  perfectly  clear.  A  dead 
germ  shows  merely  as  a  dark  blotch,  which  is  really 


52  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

a  blood  clot,  or  as  a  red  ring,  which  is  technically 
known  as  a  blood  ring. 

There  are  three  reasons  for  being  particular  to 
test  the  eggs  on  the  seventh  or  eighth  day. 

1.  Infertile  eggs  tested  out  at  this  time  are  per- 
fectly good  for  food  and  ought  not  to  be  wasted. 

2.  Dead  germs  may  be  detrimental  to  the  hatch. 
They  certainly  give  out  carbon  dioxide,  and  if  the 
incubator  thermometer  should  chance  to  rest  upon 
an  egg  containing  such  a  germ  instead  of  upon  one 
containing  a  live  germ,  it  would  not  tell  the  exact 
truth  about  the  temperature  in  the  egg  chamber. 

3.  When  several  hens  are  set  at  once,  after  the 
clear  eggs  and  dead  germs  have  been  tested  out,  the 
good  eggs  may  be  put  under  part  of  the  hens  and 
the  other  hens  reset,  thus  saving  considerable  time. 

The  eggs  should  be  tested  again  for  dead  germs 
on  the  fourteenth  day.  At  this  time  the  strong 
eggs  will  be  opaque  and  nearly  black,  and  the  dead 
germs  will  show  as  blood  rings  or  simply  as  an  in- 
distinct cloud. 

Feeding  the  Hen 

Sitting  hens  should  be  provided  with  hard  grain, 
preferably  whole  corn  or  wheat,  and  should  be  taken 
off  daily  if  they  fail  to  come  off  regularly  to  eat. 
Old  hens  usually  come  off  without  being  watched, 
but  a  young  hen  will  sometimes  stick  to  the  nest 
till  she  is  nearly  starved.  Give  no  soft  food,  for 
this  may  cause  diarrhea. 

A  hen  that  is  fed  regularly  can  easily  sit  two 
terms,  but  one  that  eats  only  occasionally  is  worn 
out  at  the  end  of  three  weeks.  The  hen  should  be 
watched  at  first  to  make  sure  that  she  returns  to 
her  nest  in  a  reasonable  time.  It  is  just  as  well  not 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  53 

to  let  her  off  for  the  first  two  days,  for  the  eggs 
are  likely  to  be  chilled  if  she  is  slow  in  returning. 

Moisture  in  the  Nest 

Many  people  sprinkle  the  eggs  under  a  hen  two 
or  three  times  the  last  week.  The  advisability  of 
this  depends  entirely  upon  the  weather.  When  it 
is  very  dry  I  try  to  keep  the  dirt  under  the  nest 
moist  by  pouring  a  little  water  in  under  the  nest 
litter  now  and  then.  If  the  eggs  are  sprinkled, 
warm  water  should  be  used,  but  not  until  the  hen 
is  ready  to  go  back  on  her  nest.  The  eggs  are  not 
as  easily  chilled  the  last  week  as  they  are  the  first, 
but  it  is  best  to  be  careful. 

Where  this  is  possible  it  is  always  best  to  set  hens 
on  the  ground,  for  moisture  from  below  is  drawn 
up  into  the  nest  and  helps  maintain  the  right  degree 
of  humidity. 

Hatching  is  more  difficult  in  Southern  California 
than  in  many  places  on  account  of  the  dryness  of 
the  air,  and  it  is  usually  necessary,  except  near  the 
coast  or  in  very  wet  weather,  to  add  a  little  extra 
moisture. 

OPERATING  THE  INCUBATOR 

It  is  always  wise  for  the  beginner  to  follow  im- 
plicitly the  directions  that  come  with  the  incubator 
he  is  using  and  not  to  be  led  astray  by  anything  he 
may  have  read  or  heard  on  the  subject.  It  is  some- 
times hard  to  do  this,  but  it  must  be  done.  The 
manufacturer  of  the  incubator  has  given  much  time 
to  learning  how  best  to  run  it,  and  he  knows  more 
about  its  peculiarities  than  any  one  who  has  not 
become  acquainted  with  it.  When  you  have  thor- 
oughly learned  your  machine,  its  peculiarities  and 
its  faults,  and  the  principles  on  which  ventilation 


54  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

and  moisture  are  provided  for,  it  is  time  enough  to 
experiment. 

Here  are  some  general  rules  for  running  incuba- 
tors which  are  given,  with  much  other  valuable  in- 
formation on  the  subject,  in  Bulletin  585  of  the 
Department  of  Agriculture,  issued  May  1,  1914 : 

Government  Suggestions 

See  that  the  incubator  is  running  steadily  at  the 
desired  temperature  before  filling  with  eggs.  Do 
not  add  fresh  eggs  to  a  tray  containing  eggs  which 
are  undergoing  incubation. 

Turn  the  eggs  twice  daily  after  the  second  and 
until  the  nineteenth  day.  Cool  the  eggs  once  daily, 
according  to  the  weather,  from  the  seventh  to  the 
nineteenth  day. 

Turn  the  eggs  before  caring  for  the  lamps. 

Attend  to  the  machine  carefully  at  regular  hours. 

Keep  the  lamp  and  wick  clean. 

Test  the  eggs  on  the  seventh  and  fourteenth  days. 

Do  not  open  the  machine  after  the  eighteenth  day 
until  the  chickens  are  hatched. 

In  setting  up  the  machine,  get  it  perfectly  level. 
Do  not  plane  off  the  door  if  it  sticks,  until  the  ma- 
chine has  been  heated  up  and  thoroughly  dried.  Run 
the  machine  at  about  102  degrees  F.  for  a  day  be- 
fore putting  in  the  eggs.  Afterwards  do  not  touch 
the  regulator  for  several  hours,  as  it  takes  this  time 
for  the  machine  to  come  back  to  its  regular  tempera- 
ture. 

The  temperature  should  remain  nearly  even. 
When  the  bulb  of  the  thermometer  rests  directly  on 
the  eggs  the  temperature  is  usually  held  at  101  !/2 
degrees  to  102  degrees  F.  the  first  week,  102  degrees 
to  103  degrees  F.  the  second  week,  and  103  degrees 
the  last  week ;  while  a  hanging  thermometer  is  oper- 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  55 

ated  at  about  102  to  102i/2  degrees  F.  the  first  two 
weeks,  and  103  degrees  F.  the  last  week. 

The  eggs  tend  to  throw  off  more  heat  as  they 
develop,  so  that  occasionally  the  regulator  needs  to 
be  changed  slightly,  but  it  should  not  be  changed 
any  more  than  is  absolutely  necessary.  The  tem- 
perature of  the  egg  chamber  may  be  lowered  by 
lowering  the  flame  of  the  lamp  in  the  middle  of  the 
day.  Regulate  the  incubator  before  opening  the 
door  to  tend  to  the  eggs.  Most  operators  tend  to 
their  machines  two  or  three  times  daily. 

Selecting  an  Incubator 

In  selecting  an  incubator,  do  not  try  to  save  a 
little  money  at  the  expense  of  future  success.  The 
best  is  none  too  good.  There  are  many  good  makes 
of  incubators,  but  all  are  not  equally  good  in  the 
same  locality.  Find  out  what  make  the  poultrymen 
in  your  vicinity  are  using  and  whether  they  are 
satisfied  with  it.  In  this,  as  in  many  other  things, 
it  is  best  to  follow  the  crowd. 

Do  not  buy  an  incubator  that  is  too  small.  One 
holding  from  150  to  200  eggs  is  a  good  size  for  the 
man  who  raises  but  a  few  hundred  chicks  in  a  sea- 
son. The  fifty  and  sixty-egg  machines  may  do  at 
first,  but  it  takes  no  more  oil  and  no  more  care  to 
run  a  200-egg  machine,  and  it  is  very  desirable  that 
you  hatch  as  many  chicks  at  once  as  possible.  When 
I  began  using  incubators,  I  bought  two  fifty-egg 
machines  and  kept  them  going  half  a  hatch  apart, 
thinking  that  in  this  way  I  could  better  save  all  my 
hatching  eggs.  I  saved  all  the  eggs  but  found  my- 
self utterly  swamped  by  so  many  broods  of  different 
ages.  One  hatch  from  a  200-egg  machine  would 
have  given  me  as  many  good  thrifty  chicks  as  I  man- 
aged to  raise  that  season,  and  I  should  have  saved 


56  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

much  time  and  strength.  Saving  labor  is  the  heart 
and  essence  of  poultry  keeping,  and  money  that 
saves  it  is  well  spent. 

Professor  Brigham  in  "Progressive  Poultry  Cult- 
ure" gives  the  following  points  which  must  be  care- 
fully considered  in  selecting  an  incubator: 

1.  The  heating  system  should  be  safe,  of  ample 
power,    and   under   perfect    automatic    regulation, 
within  reasonable  limits. 

2.  The  ventilating  system  should  be  capable  of 
easy  adjustment,  so  that  the  amount  of  pure  air 
positively  supplied  to  the  eggs  may  be  under  com- 
plete control. 

3.  It  should  be  possible  to  ascertain  and  regu- 
late easily  the  amount  of  moisture  in  the  atmos- 
phere of  the  egg  chamber. 

4.  The  walls  of  the  incubator  should  be  suf- 
ficiently insulated  to  prevent  the  influence  of  outside 
temperature  causing  uneven  temperatures  on  the 
level  of  the  egg  trays. 

5.  The    machine    should  be  made  of  first-class 
materials  and  carefully  constructed. 

The  Incubator  Room 

Professor  Brigham  also  makes  these  suggestions 
as  to  the  room  in  which  the  incubator  is  operated : 

"It  should  be  held  at  an  even  temperature  and  not 
be  liable  to  sudden  fluctuations  because  of  outside 
changes  in  the  weather. 

"Ventilation  should  be  ample  and  under  control, 
so  that  there  will  be  no  liability  of  strong  drafts  of 
air  striking  directly  against  the  lamps  or  the  incu- 
bators. 

"The  room  should  be  well  lighted,  so  that  all  of 
the  operations,  including  the  reading  of  the  ther- 
mometers in  the  egg  chambers,  can  be  conducted 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  57 

without  difficulty  or  discomfort  so  far  as  eyesight 
is  concerned.  The  windows  should  be  provided  with 
shades  if  the  sun  is  liable  to  shine  directly  upon  an 
incubator  while  it  is  in  operation. 

"It  is  most  important  that  the  floor  of  the  in- 
cubator house  be  firm  and  solid.  I  prefer  an  earthen 
floor,  for  then  whatever  is  dropped  upon  such  a 
floor  it  will  not  cause  a  shock  to  the  embryo.  It  is 
always  advisable  to  keep  as  quiet  as  possible  in  an 
incubator  house  during  the  time  the  machines  are 
working,  and  for  that  reason  a  good  lock  should  be 
fixed  upon  the  door  and  only  the  one  attendant 
allowed  to  go  into  the  house.  An  incubator  may  be 
worked  in  a  spare  room  of  a  dwelling  house,  and 
I  have  known  several  cottagers  who  have  excellent 
results  every  season  when  using  them  in  such 
places." 

A  cellar  is  generally  considered  the  best  place  for 
running  an  incubator,  but  it  must  be  dry,  as  well  as 
well  lighted  and  ventilated.  Cement  floors  are  gen- 
erally preferred  to  wood  or  earth,  but  earth  is  satis- 
factory except  for  the  matter  of  regulating  moist- 
ure. A  kitchen  is  a  very  poor  place  for  the  machine 
because  of  the  constantly  changing  temperature. 

Use  Good  Oil 

Nothing  is  more  certain  to  spoil  a  hatch  than  the 
use  of  cheap  oil.  It  is  economy  to  use  the  best. 
But  the  oil  can  should  never  be  kept  in  the  incuba- 
tor room,  and  the  eggs  should  be  turned  before  the 
lamp  is  filled  lest  a  minute  particle  of  oil  on  the 
fingers  touch  the  egg  and  kill  the  embryo.  Kero- 
sene is  sure  death  to  the  germ.  I  once  lost  practi- 
cally all  of  a  hatch  because  the  box  in  which  the  hen 
was  sitting  had  been  soaked  with  kerosene  and  not 
enough  dirt  put  in  the  bottom  to  keep  the  oil  from 


58  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

soaking  through  into  the  nest.    On  such  trifling  mat- 
ters as  this  does  the  success  of  a  hatch  depend. 

Test  the  Thermometer 

The  incubator  thermometer  should  be  tested  at 
the  beginning  of  every  season.  Any  druggist  will 
test  the  thermometer  for  you,  or  you  can  do  it  your- 
self by  obtaining  a  physician's  clinical  thermometer, 
which  is  known  to  be  correct,  and  placing  the  bulbs 
of  both  thermometers  in  water  which  has  been 
warmed  to  100  degrees.  The  difference  should  be 
carefully  noted  and  allowed  for  in  reading  the  in- 
cubator thermometer. 

It  is  also  a  good  plan  to  test  the  temperature  of 
the  egg  chamber  by  placing  several  thermometers 
in  different  positions  on  the  tray.  If  the  tempera- 
ture in  one  part  of  the  egg  chamber  is  lower  than 
in  other  places,  this  indicates  that  that  side  of  the 
tray  is  lower  and  needs  to  be  raised. 

The  Moisture  Problem 

Many  incubators  require  additional  moisture  at 
hatching  time,  but  this  is  a  matter  that  should  not 
be  meddled  with  until  you  are  perfectly  sure  that 
yours  is  this  sort  of  machine.  It  is  a  problem  the 
best  operator  understands  but  partially,  and  there 
is  almost  as  much  danger  of  drowning  the  chicks 
by  giving  too  much  moisture  as  of  their  failing  to 
get  out  of  the  shell  for  lack  of  it.  If  the  air  is  too 
dry  the  moisture  in  the  egg  will  evaporate  too 
rapidly.  If  the  air  is  too  moist  it  will  evaporate  too 
slowly.  There  you  are,  between  Scylla  and  Charyb- 
dis,  for  no  one  has  yet  devised  a  way  of  finding 
out  certainly  whether  the  vapor  pressure,  which  is 
practically  the  same  as  humidity,  is  just  right  or 
not.  When  it  has  been  proved,  by  previous  hatches, 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  59 

that  additional  moisture  is  necessary,  it  is  best 
added  by  sprinkling  the  floor  of  the  incubator  cellar, 
which  should  be  of  cement,  if  possible,  often  enough 
to  keep  it  wet.  Sometimes  the  eggs  are  sprinkled 
with  warm  water  several  times  the  last  week ;  some- 
times, when  they  are  slow  in  pipping,  a  flannel  cloth 
wrung  out  of  warm  water  and  laid  on  top  of  the  eggs 
has  good  results;  in  many  machines  a  tray  of  wet 
sand  is  used  at  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  hatch ; 
in  others  a  water  pan  is  provided  which  is  filled 
with  water  when  moisture  is  needed,  and  with 
others  the  operator  is  instructed  to  dip  the  eggs, 
tray  and  all,  in  warm  water  on  the  eighteenth  day, 
before  the  incubator  doors  are  closed  for  the  last 
time.  I  have  found  it  a  good  plan,  when  I  used  a 
machine  which  made  no  provision  for  extra  mois- 
ture, to  insert  the  spout  of  a  kettle  full  of  boiling 
water  in  one  of  the  ventilators.  If  the  eggs  were 
pipping  slowly  this  always  hurried  them  up. 

Whatever  you  do,  follow  the  directions  with  the 
incubator  implicitly  until  you  know  you  can  improve 
upon  them.  I  have  an  idea  that  more  failures  in 
artificial  incubation  come  from  not  following  exactly 
the  printed  rules  for  the  particular  machine  used 
than  from  all  other  reasons  combined. 

DEATH  IN  THE  SHELL 

The  death  of  chicks  in  the  shell,  at  hatching  time 
or  shortly  before,  is  one  of  the  tragedies  of  poultry 
keeping,  and  a  problem  that  has  never  been  fully 
solved. 

Among  the  reasons  that  have  been  advanced  for 
these  untimely  deaths  are  the  following: 

1.  Too  much  moisture,  which  makes  the  chick 
so  large  that  it  is  cramped  for  room  and  cannot 
break  through  the  shell. 


60 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 


2.  Too  little  mois- 
ture,  which  causes 
excessive     evapora- 
tion. The  chick  lacks 
bulk  and  is  unable 
to    exert    sufficient 
pressure    to    break 
the  egg,  or  when  it 
does  do  this  the  in- 
ner   lining    of    the 
shell  dries  on  it  and 
keeps     it     from 
moving. 

3.  Irregular  tem- 
perature during  in- 
cubation,    which 
weakens   the   germ 
so    that    the    chick 
dies   before   it   can 
free  itself. 

4.  Weakness  in  the  chick,  due  to  lack  of  vigor  in 
the  parent  stock. 

5.  Too  high  temperature  the  first  days  of  in- 
cubation. 

6.  Too  low  temperature  in  the  under  parts  of 
the  egg. 

7.  Strangulation,  caused  by  the  chick  becoming 
choked  with  unused  albumen. 

8.  Lack   of   adequate   ventilation   during  third 
week  of  incubation. 

9.  Excessive  ventilation  during  last  half  of  in- 
cubation period. 

10.  Keeping    hatching    eggs    too    long,    which 
weakens   the   germ   and   causes   loss   of   hatching 
power. 

11.  Failure  to  turn  the  eggs  daily,  which  causes 


FIG.    19 DIAGRAM   SHOWING  AIR  CELLS  AT 

DIFFERENT    STAGES    OF    INCUBATION 


FIG.     21 — HATCHING    AND     BROODING     COOP 


FIG.    22 BROODEK   HOUSE   AND   RUNS    ON   POULTRY   RANCH,   RIVERSIDE 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  61 

the  germ  to  adhere  to  one  side  of  the  egg  and  pre- 
vents its  development. 

Chicks  that  have  been  unable  to  free  themselves 
from  the  shell  may  often  be  freed  by  the  operator 
after  the  hatch  is  over.  Break  the  shell  where  the 
egg  has  been  pipped,  or  make  a  tiny  hole  with  a 
pin  if  you  hear  the  chick  peep  inside  an  unpipped 
egg,  being  careful  not  to  puncture  the  delicate  mem- 
brane which  surrounds  the  chick;  then  carefully 
break  away  enough  of  the  shell  so  that  the  chick 
can  work  itself  out.  Sometimes  dipping  a  pipped 
egg  into  warm  water,  without,  of  course,  allowing 
the  water  to  enter  the  hole,  or  wrapping  it  in  a  flan- 
nel, wet  in  warm  water,  will  bring  the  chick  out. 
The  chick  should  always  be  laid  in  a  warm  place 
while  it  is  hatching  itself,  and  it  is  usually  safer 
not  to  leave  it  under  the  hen.  She  is  almost  sure  to 
crush  the  little  helpless  creature. 

When  the  chick  is  weak  because  the  parent  stock 
was  weak  or  on  account  of  faulty  incubation,  there 
is  nothing  to  be  gained  by  helping  it  out  of  the  shell. 
It  will  die  sooner  or  later  or,  if  it  lives,  will  be  a 
runt. 

Recent  investigations  have  shown  that  weakness 
of  the  germ  is  probably  responsible  for  by  far  the 
larger  part  of  these  untimely  deaths.  A  vigorous 
germ  develops  into  a  strong  chick  which  will  man- 
age to  get  out  of  the  shell  somehow  in  spite  of  lack 
of  moisture.  It  is  noticeable  in  every  hatch  that  it 
is  the  strongest  chicks  that  come  out  first,  while 
the  late  hatched  chick  is  rarely  worth  raising.  Vigor 
in  the  parent  stock  and  frequent  introduction  of 
new  blood  are  the  best  means  of  producing  germs 
that  will  hatch  in  spite  of  faulty  conditions.  If  one 
cannot  afford  to  send  away  for  new  blood  every 
year,  he  can  usually  manage  to  trade  cockerels  with 


62 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 


Rlfht   foot.  Left   foot. 


4 


a  neighbor,  and  the  result  of  this  out-breeding  will 
soon  show  in  the  increased  hatchability  of  germs 
and  livability  of  chicks. 

The  fact  that  the  percentage  of  eggs  hatched  by 
hens  is  hardly  larger  than  the  percentage  of  those 
hatched  by  incubators  seems  to  indicate  that  the 
failure  of  eggs  to  hatch  is  due  to  something  farther 
back  than  incuba- 
tion, and  this 
something  is 
probably  care- 
less breeding. 
Very  few  ama- 
teurs can  resist 
the  temptation  to 
breed  from  a 
large,  well-colored 
bird,  whether  it 
is  vigorous  or  not, 
and  here  is  prob- 
ably the  secret  of 
most  of  our  trou- 
ble. Careful  at- 
tention to  the  principles  of  breeding,  though  it  seems 
to  entail  present  loss,  will  certainly  lessen  consider- 
ably this  deplorable  loss  of  life  in  the  shell. 

Marking  Chicks 

In  order  to  know  the  age  of  chicks,  and  also  of 
the  adult  fowls,  and  in  order  to  know  the  parentage 
of  different  broods,  some  method  of  marking  is 
absolutely  necessary.  After  they  are  grown  the 
birds  may  be  banded  with  leg  bands  showing  a  num- 
ber, and  a  complete  record  kept  by  number,  but 
while  they  are  small  this  is  impracticable. 

The  best  method  of  marking  is  to  use  a  punch, 


^S, /[^ 


FIG.   20 DIFFERENT   TOE   MARKINGS   FOR   BABY 

CHICKS 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 


63 


which  costs  25  cents,  punching  the  web  of  the  foot 
on  one  or  both  sides.  Sixteen  different  markings 
are  possible  (Fig.  20).  By  keeping  a  careful  record 
of  these  you  may  know  the  exact  age  of  every  bird 
in  the  flock. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Brooding 

REARING  BABY  CHICKS 

The  principles  of  chick  raising  are  the  same, 
whether  the  chicks  are  raised  by  hens  or  in  brooders 
or  in  a  box  with  a  jug  of  hot  water.  Warmth,  nour- 
ishment, fresh  air,  cleanliness,  sunshine  and  exer- 
cise, and  protection  from  insects  and  marauding 
animals  are  the  sum  total  of  the  requirements,  and 
the  art  of  rearing  every  chick  hatched,  providing 
the  parent  stock  is  what  it  should  be,  is  simply  the 
art  of  giving  careful  attention  to  these  details. 
Losses  of  chick  life  each  year  are  enormous,  aver- 
aging the  country  over,  half  the  chicks  hatched, 
and  by  far  the  greater  part  of  these  could  be  avoided 
by  painstaking  attention  to  these  simple,  essential 
requirements  of  all  young  life. 

Rearing  chicks  with  hens  is  easier  and  more  satis- 
factory than  raising  them  in  brooders,  despite  the 
"crankiness"  of  the  mother  hen.  It  is  Nature's 
way,  and  provides  a  combination  of  warmth  with 
fresh  air  and  exercise  which  can  not  be  duplicated 
in  any  other  way.  Sometimes  it  is  best,  when  several 
hens  are  caring  for  large  broods  all  the  same  age,  to 
put  hens  and  chicks  together  in  a  large  yard,  confin- 
ing each  hen  in  her  own  coop.  If  they  are  together 
from  the  start,  the  chicks  will  run  together,  and  the 
hens  will  know  no  difference,  but  will  brood  any 
chick  that  comes.  By  putting  four  hens  with  100 
chicks  in  such  a  yard  the  chicks  can  be  fed  with  much 
less  trouble,  and  a  fine  flock  will  grow  up  together. 


FIG.    11 BROODER    HOUSE.       1200    CHICK    CAPACITY 


FIG.    12 SIMPLEST    FORM    OF    LONG    HOUSE    FOR    LAYERS    OR    BREEDERS 

ACCOMMODATES    125   LEGHORNS   OR   100   HEAVY    HENS 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  65 

Such  a  plan  is  not  possible  on  large  poultry  plants 
where  thousands  of  chicks  are  raised  yearly,  but  it  is 
entirely  feasible  where  500  or  600  are  raised. 

Warmth  the  First  Essential 

Rest  and  warmth  are  the  first  requirements  of  a 
newly  hatched  chick.  The  last  day  of  hatching  it 
draws  into  its  abdomen  the  yolk  of  the  egg,  and 
this  is  food  enough  for  the  first  two  days.  All  it 
needs  now  is  to  lie  quietly  in  a  warm  place  and  sleep, 
but  it  must  be  warm  or  it  cannot  sleep.  Lack  of 
sufficient  heat  the  first  two  days  is  the  great  cause 
of  bowel  trouble  and  death.  A  slight  chill  causes 
indigestion,  there  is  diarrhea  (not  white  diar- 
rhea), the  chick  becomes  pasted  up  behind,  stands 
around  "hunched  up"  and  miserable,  and  soon  dies. 
It  is  extremely  important,  therefore,  that  in  moving 
chicks  from  incubator  to  brooder,  or  from  sitting 
box  to  coop,  every  precaution  be  taken  to  prevent 
chilling;  that  brooders  be  so  warm  that  the  chick 
will  lie  down  comfortably  and  sleep,  and  that 
mother  hens,  if  they  do  not  understand  their  busi- 
ness, be  compelled  to  brood  their  charges  or  give 
them  up. 

Just  how  soon  after  hatching  a  chick  should  be  fed 
is  a  mooted  question  among  experts,  but  all  agree 
that  it  should  not  be  less  than  forty-eight  hours. 
In  most  broods  some  chicks  will  begin  to  hunt  for 
food  while  others  are  still  resting  under  the  hen. 
These  older  chicks  should  be  fed  when  they  seem 
hungry.  Those  that  are  not  ready  to  eat  will  not 
eat. 

Overcrowding  is  one  of  the  greatest  enemies  to 
the  growth  and  health  of  baby  chicks.  A  brooder 
that  is  just  right  when  the  chicks  are  first  hatched 
will  be  far  too  small  when  they  are  three  weeks 


66  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

old,  for  a  normal  chick  doubles  its  size  in  three 
weeks.  See  that  the  growing-  chick  has  room  to 
grow  in.  If  it  has  not,  it  will  be  a  runt.  Chicks  do 
better  in  flocks  of  not  more  than  fifty,  and  when 
particularly  fine  chicks  are  wanted,  they  must  be 
raised  in  smaller  flocks  than  this.  On  large  plants 
it  is  necessary  to  brood  hundreds  of  chicks  together, 
but  losses  are  greater.  The  Leghorn,  however, 
which  is  always  kept  on  these  large  egg  farms,  can 
bear  much  more  crowding  than  other  breeds. 

Protection  from  lice  and  mites  and  from  all  sorts 
of  animal  foes  is  a  vital  part  of  chick  raising.  No 
chick  can  thrive  when  it  is  infested  with  lice,  and 
the  red  mite,  which  sucks  its  blood  at  night,  is  a 
deadly  enemy.  Dusting  or  greasing  hen-hatched 
chicks  when  they  are  first  hatched,  and  once  a  week 
afterward;  dusting  brooder  chicks  every  week; 
keeping  all  sitting  hens  free  from  lice,  and  using 
some  good  lice  paint  on  coops  and  brooders  to  keep 
mites  from  finding  a  hiding  place  in  them,  will  keep 
chicks  free  from  these  troublesome  pests. 

Cats,  dogs,  hawks,  squirrels  and  the  like  are  not 
so  easily  guarded  against.  Covered  runs  are  the 
best  solution  of  the  problem,  but  chicks  ought  to 
have  range,  if  it  is  at  all  possible,  after  the  first 
week  or  two,  and  it  is  a  pity  to  be  obliged  to  deprive 
them  of  this  because  of  marauding  animals.  Every 
poultrykeeper  will  find  his  own  way  of  controlling 
the  neighbor's  dog  or  cat.  Sometimes  the  chicks 
will  have  to  be  shut  up ;  sometimes  the  animals  can 
be  confined. 

In  California  coops  and  runs  for  baby  chicks 
should  always  front  east,  so  that  the  chicks  may 
have  the  morning  sun  and  be  protected  from  the 
western  coast  winds.  Exposure  to  these  winds  is 
very  detrimental  to  young  stock,  and  they  should 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  67 

always  be  provided  with  some  sort  of  windbreak. 
Burlap  sacks,  fastened  to  the  side  of  the  coop  from 
which  the  wind  comes,  make  an  excellent  windbreak 
in  ordinary  weather,  and  in  very  stormy  weather 
the  coop  may  be  placed  in  the  lee  of  a  house. 

Hardly  less  important  than  warmth,  even  at  the 
start,  and  even  more  important  in  the  long  run,  is 
an  adequate  supply  of  pure  air.  Chicks  cared  for 
by  hens  in  open  coops  breathe  fresh  air  .day  and 
night.  The  brooder  chick  is  handicapped  in  this 
respect,  and  the  greatest  care  should  be  used  in 
selecting  a  brooder  to  make  sure  that  it  has  a  good 
circulation  of  air  under  the  hover.  Professor  Rice 
says  in  one  of  his  Cornell  bulletins:  "Pure  air  is 
of  more  importance  to  fowls  than  it  is  to  other 
domestic  animals  because  of  the  warmer  tempera- 
ture of  the  fowl's  body.  This  high  body  tempera- 
ure  is  maintained  by  combustion  of  the  food  nutri- 
ents contained  in  the  blood  in  the  presence  of  pure 
air.  Without  pure  air  perfect  combustion  is  impossi- 
ble. Without  perfect  combustion  the  chick  cannot  be 
warmed  from  within  the  body  and  therefore  will 
not  be  comfortable  nor  healthy  even  in  a  warm 
brooder.  The  chick  is  a  quick-growing,  quick- 
breathing  animal,  requiring  rapid  digestive  and  as- 
similative changes,  and  therefore  suffers  seriously 
and  quickly  when  closely  confined  and  compelled  to 
breathe  impure  air.  Leg  weakness  is  almost  cer- 
tain to  result  from  close  confinement  and  heavy 
feeding,  which  usually  are  accompanied  by  a  close 
and  more  or  less  vitiated  atmosphere." 

THE  HEN  AND  HER  BROOD 

When  the  hen  is  hatching  she  should  be  left 
quietly  on  her  nest  and  not  disturbed,  except  by 
slipping  the  hand  under  her  to  remove  the  egg  shells, 


68  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

till  the  hatch  is  over.  If  she  will  eat  from  the  hand 
she  may  be  given  a  little  whole  corn  or  wheat,  but 
she  will  not  suffer  if  she  is  not  fed.  When  the 
chicks  come  out  from  under  the  hen  and  begin  to 
climb  about  the  nest,  it  is  time  to  remove  them  to 
the  coop. 

There  is  no  better  brood  coop  than  can  be  made 
from  a  good-sized  drygoods  box  sawed  through  the 
middle  at  an  angle  so  that  there  are  two  coops,  each 
with  a  shed  roof.  The  roof  must  be  made  tight,  and 
there  must  be  no  cracks  in  back  and  sides.  Wire 
may  be  tacked  across  the  upper  part  of  the  coop 
to  keep  out  rats,  and  there  should  be  a  sliding  door 
of  two-inch  wire  so  that  the  hen  may  be  confined 
while  the  chicks  go  in  and  out.  A  wire  run  of  one- 
inch  mesh  about  two  feet  high,  four  or  five  feet  long, 
and  as  wide  as  the  coop,  is  used  with  it,  and  may  be 
attached  to  the  coop  by  a  hook  and  eye.  The  coop 
should  have  a  board  floor.  While  chicks  can  be 
brooded  on  the  ground  in  dry  weather,  they  need 
a  floor  when  it  is  wet. 

A  grocery  box,  if  it  is  high  enough  for  the  hen 
to  stand  up  in,  makes  a  good  brood  coop,  and  has 
this  advantage,  that,  having  cost  but  little,  it  may 
be  discarded  at  the  end  of  the  season.  This  is  a 
great  advantage  in  California  where  mites  have 
always  to  be  dealt  with. 

The  old-fashioned  A-coop  may  often  be  made  from 
scraps  of  lumber,  and  is  as  good  as  any  if  it  is  not 
used  with  a  run.  It  would  be  particularly  suitable 
where  several  broods  are  kept  in  one  yard. 

Before  hen  and  chicks  are  removed  from  the  nest, 
see  that  the  coop  is  perfectly  clean,  and  cover  the 
floor  with  a  layer  of  clean  sand  covered  with  fine 
cut  alfalfa.  Scatter  a  handful  of  grit  and  another 
of  steel  cut  oats  over  the  litter.  The  addition  of  a 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  69 

fountain  of  clean  water  completes  the  preparation 
of  the  coop. 

If  the  chicks  are  put  into  the  coop  the  morning 
of  the  second  day  after  hatching,  the  steel  cut  oats 
in  the  litter  will  be  all  they  need  till  night.  About 
five  o'clock  give  a  hard-boiled  egg  chopped,  shell  and 
all,  with  an  equal  amount  of  dry  bread  as  an  appe- 
tizer, or,  if  that  is  not  convenient,  scatter  more  steel- 
cut  oats  or  rolled  oats.  There  is  no  special  virtue 
in  egg  and  bread,  but  the  chicks  like  it  and  eat  it 
a  little  more  eagerly  than  they  do  the  dry  feed.  A 
little  onion  chopped  in  is  good  for  them.  (Fig.  32.) 

The  second  day  a  dish  of  dry  bran  may  be  set 
before  them,  and  more  steel-cut  oats  scattered. 
Cracked  wheat  may  be  added  to  the  oats  or  commer- 
cial chick  feed  given  instead.  It  is  a  good  plan  to 
give  an  occasional  meal  of  egg  and  bread  the  first 
five  days.  Chicks  grow  faster  when  they  are  coaxed 
a  little.  After  five  days  they  can  settle  down  to 
commercial  chick  feed  and  the  Cornell  chick  mash, 
with  lettuce  once  a  day. 

The  hen  should  be  confined  in  the  coop  for  a  week 
at  least.  If  she  does  not  brood  the  chicks  as  she 
should,  darken  the  coop,  but  the  confinement  is  usu- 
ally sufficient.  A  hen  that  does  not  pay  proper 
attention  to  her  brood  should  be  discarded.  Let  the 
chicks  go  back  and  forth  through  the  wire  door  as 
soon  as  they  are  old  enough  to  find  their  way  back, 
but  confine  them  in  the  wire  run  until  they  are  sev- 
eral weeks  old.  If  the  weather  is  fine,  and  there 
are  no  dogs  or  cats  about,  they  may  be  out  after  ten 
days. 

Keep  the  hen  in  the  run  at  all  times.  She  will 
be  much  easier  to  manage  and  will  not  be  able  to 
tire  the  chicks  out  by  dragging  them  too  far  or  to 
chill  them  in  the  early  morning  dew,  and  the  chicks 


70  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

will  always  know  where  to  find  her  if  they  want  her. 
The  hen  is  the  best  mother  for  chicks,  but  she  must 
be  managed. 

It  is  a  good  plan  to  have  an  oil  cloth  cover  for 
the  run,  in  case  of  rain,  but  burlap  sacks  are  a  better 
protection  from  the  sun.  Never  leave  hen  or  chicks 
without  shade.  The  glare  of  the  sun  is  uncomfort- 
able for  the  hen  and  may  kill  the  chicks. 

Give  fresh  water  every  time  the  chicks  are  fed, 
and  keep  grit  in  a  shallow  box  or  pan  where  they 
can  always  reach  it.  On  very  gravelly  soil  this  may 
not  be  necesary,  but  it  is  always  safe. 

Dry  mash  should  be  kept  before  the  chicks  at  all 
times,  and  the  grain  scattered  in  the  run  or  kept  in 
a  feeder.  Where  chicks  have  range  they  will  not 
overeat  even  if  not  made  to  scratch  for  their  grain, 
but  where  they  are  confined  in  the  run  they  must 
be  made  to  scratch. 

Protection  from  lice  is  a  more  serious  problem 
with  hen  mothers  than  when  chicks  are  artificially 
brooded.  The  hen  should  be  kept  clean  during  incu- 
bation and  dusted  just  before  the  hatch  comes  off. 
If  the  head  and  throat  of  each  chick  are  greased 
with  lard  when  they  are  put  in  the  brood  coop,  there 
will  be  no  danger  of  head  lice,  but  hen  and  chicks 
must  be  dusted  once  a  week  or  they  will  soon  be 
infested  with  ordinary  hen  lice,  and  their  growth 
hindered.  This  matter  of  lice  is  a  vital  one  with 
chicks  and  turkeys  and  is  of  itself  enough  to  make 
the  difference  between  success  and  failure  in  the 
chicken  business. 

The  coop  should  be  cleaned  out  at  least  once  a 
week,  and  clean  nesting  material  put  in.  Hose  out 
the  coop  whenever  it  is  cleaned,  and  once  a  month 
paint  with  kerosene  and  crude  carbolic  acid — one 
part  acid  to  three  or  four  of  kerosene.  Coop  and  run 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  71 

should  be  often  moved  to  new  ground.  Clean  coops, 
clean  ground  and  clean  water  are  more  important 
than  the  kind  of  feed,  but  all  are  very  important. 

ARTIFICIAL  BROODING 

In  England,  when  brooders  were  first  invented, 
they  were  called  "foster  mothers,"  a  most  sugges- 
tive title  and  indicative  of  what  the  brooder's  func- 
tion should  be. 

•Three  types  of  brooders  are  in  general  use  on 
farms  and  poultry  ranches: 

1.  Fireless  brooders. 

2.  Indoor  and  outdoor  lamp  brooders. 

3.  Colony-house  brooders  heated  by  gasoline,  dis- 
tillate or  hot  water. 

Fireless  Brooders 

The  fireless  brooder  has  come  to  stay;  there  is  no 
doubt  about  it.  It  is  hardly  suitable  for  use  in  very 
cold  weather  unless  in  a  heated  room  where  the 
temperature  does  not  go  below  40  degrees  at  night 
or  60  degrees  in  the  daytime,  but  for  ordinary 
weather,  and  especially  in  warm  climates,  it  is  more 
economical  for  the  user  and  more  healthful  for  the 
chicks  than  a  lamp  heated  brooder. 

The  fireless  brooder  in  common  use  is  a  box  from 
fourteen  to  eighteen  inches  square,  with  a  door  on 
one  side.  A  frame  made  to  fit  the  box  loosely,  so 
that  air  may  come  in  around  it,  rests  on  a  peg  in 
each  corner,  and  to  this  is  tacked  a  square  of  canton 
flannel  which  sags  in  the  middle  so  that  it  rests  on 
the  backs  of  the  chicks.  On  this  is  laid  a  quilt  made 
of  cheesecloth  and  cotton  batting.  If  the  night  is 
very  cold  another  quilt  is  added.  Roofing  paper 
covers  the  bottom,  and  the  box  is  filled  in  with  straw 
or  chaff,  so  that  the  chicks  have  a  warm  nest  to 
cuddle  in  under  their  quilt. 


72  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

A  box  like  this  accommodates  twenty-five  chicks, 
no  less  and  not  many  more.  A  smaller  number  can- 
not keep  each  other  warm,  and  a  larger  number — 
more  than  forty,  say — will  crowd  together  and  crush 
each  other.  In  warm  weather  and  when  kept  in  a 
warm  room  these  brooders  are  very  successful,  and 
it  is  often  possible  to  keep  chicks  a  week  in  one  of 
the  lamp  brooders,  and  then  transfer  them  to  a  fire- 
less  brooder  where  they  have  a  better  chance  for 
fresh  air  and  exercise. 

The  Lamp  Brooder 

Indoor  and  outdoor  lamp-heated  brooders  have 
been  very  popular  but  are  being  discarded  for  the 
fireless  brooders  on  the  one  hand  and  the  colony- 
house  brooders  on  the  other.  The  objections  to 
lamp  brooders  are: 

1.  Their  small  size.     Most  of  them,  though  they 
may  be  advertised  as  holding  100  chicks,  are  really 
suitable  for  but  fifty,  and  this,  if  several  hundred 
chicks  are  to  be  raised  in  a  season,  is  too  small  a 
number  to  brood  at  once.     The  more  chicks  you  can 
raise  at  one  time,  the  easier  is  the  work  of  hatching, 
which  is  arduous  enough  at  the  best,  and  the  easier 
is  it  to  care  for  the  growing  chicks. 

2.  Lack  of  exercising  space.     The  chicks  do  very 
well  for  a  week  or  two,  but  the  exercising  room  is 
of  necessity  too  small  to  accommodate  them  long, 
and  a  stairway  up  and  down  which  they  must  pass 
is  a  delusion  and  a  snare. 

3.  Difficulty  in  getting  the  chicks  far  enough 
away  from  the  heat.     As  the  chicks  grow  they  need 
to  be  more  and  more  in  the  cool,  fresh  air,  and  this 
is  not  always  easy  to  manage  with  a  lamp  brooder. 

Probably  the  lamp  brooder  which  most  nearly 
meets  the  conditions  of  successful  brooding  is  the 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  73 

style  which  is  heated  by  hot  water  pipes  and  can 
be  built,  in  a  manner,  into  the  brooder  house.  A 
brooder  house  fitted  up  with  such  brooders  is  shown 
in  Fig.  22.  The  house  contains  four  brooders,  each 
with  its  indoor  run  and  its  outdoor  run.  The  east 
side  of  the  house,  which  the  brooders  face,  is  all 
windows,  and  these  can  be  opened  in  warm  weather 
or  closed  if  the  weather  is  cold  and  stormy.  Four 
hundred  chicks  are  cared  for  at  once  in  this  house, 
and  the  owner  finds  it  much  more  satisfactory  than 
brooding  with  hens. 

The  Colony-House  Brooder 

Where  more  than  a  hundred  chicks  are  to  be 
raised  artificially,  the  colony-house  brooder  is  the 
thing.  A  colony-house  8  x  10,  holding  from  two  to 
three  hundred  chicks,  can  be  built  and  heated  for 
about  $30.  A  house  twelve  feet  square  with  a  little 
larger  heater  will  brood  600  chicks  at  once. 

There  are  many  different  heating  systems  for 
these  houses.  Some  heat  with  hot  water  pipes,  some 
with  gasoline  or  distillate  stoves,  usually  with  hov- 
ers, but  sometimes  without.  A  person  contemplat- 
ing such  a  brooder-house  should  investigate  the  dif- 
ferent heating  systems  on  the  market  and  select  one 
which  is  most  generally  used.  The  gasoline  heating 
system  in  use  at  the  Cornell  Experiment  Station  is 
very  highly  recommended,  and,  as  it  is  not  patented, 
is  not  expensive.  A  descriptive  circular  may  be  had 
by  writing  the  College  of  Agriculture,  Cornell  Uni- 
versity, Ithaca,  N.  Y. 

One  advantage  of  such  a  system  as  this  is  that 
the  house  may  be  used  the  year  round.  After  the 
chicks  no  longer  need  the  heat,  the  heater  may  be 
removed,  and  the  house  used  as  roosting  house  for 
the  young  stock.  Later,  the  house,  if  it  is  portable, 


74  POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT 

as  such  a  colony  house  should  be,  may  be  moved  out 
into  a  field  and  used  for  pullets  or  breeding  stock. 

With  a  house  of  this  style  chicks  may  be  given  as 
much  range  as  is  convenient.  A  small  side  door 
allows  them  to  come  and  go  as  they  will,  and  there 
is  no  limit  to  the  ground  they  may  range  over. 

CARING  FOR  BROODER  CHICKS 

The  trick  of  caring  for  brooder  chicks  consists 
largely  in  finding  out  what  the  fault  of  your  par- 
ticular make  of  brooder  is,  and  then  overcoming  it. 

In  Fireless  Brooders 

All  things  considered,  there  is  probably  no  more 
risk  in  raising  chicks  in  fireless  brooders  than  in 
other  artificial  brooders,  and  it  is  much  cheaper. 
The  brooder  should  be  kept  indoors  the  first  week 
and  should  be  under  shelter  at  night  for  several 
weeks,  depending  on  the  weather.  If  one  is  going 
to  raise  a  considerable  number  of  chicks  in  this  way 
it  is  best  to  have  a  brooder  house  and  to  arrange 
for  some  kind  of  heat. 

Breaking  the  chicks  to  the  brooder  is  no  more 
difficult  with  fireless  brooders  than  with  others.  The 
chicks,  when  first  taken  from  the  incubator,  should 
be  covered  up  warmly  and  left  to  sleep  till  they  are 
at  least  forty-eight  hours  old.  Then  let  them  out 
into  the  run  with  which  every  fireless  brooder  must 
be  provided,  and  let  them  peck  at  the  sand  and  take 
a  drink  of  water.  After  half  an  hour,  or  less  if  they 
seem  cold,  shut  them  up  for  another  rest,  and  after 
an  hour  or  so  let  them  out  again  and  scatter  rolled 
oats  or  steel  cut  oats  on  the  sand.  This  program 
must  be  kept  up  till  the  chicks  have  learned  to  go 
in  when  they  are  cold  and  out  when  they  are  hungry, 
but  the  caretaker  must  remember  that  one  chick 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  75 

alone  will  not  be  warm  in  the  brooder,  unless  the 
sun  is  shining  on  it.  Fireless  brooders  should 
always  be  put  in  a  sheltered  place  where  they  will 
get  the  sun.  Probably  there  is  nothing  better  than 
a  Philo  coop  fronting  south  for  this  purpose.  When 
there  is  no  sunshine,  it  is  a  good  plan  to  give  the 
chicks  a  jug  of  hot  water,  wrapped  in  flannel,  to 
cuddle  about  during  the  day.  At  night  when  shut 
in  the  brooder,  they  will  keep  each  other  warm. 

Just  how  often  the  chicks  should  be  let  out  of  the 
brooder  these  first  few  days  is  a  question  of  temper- 
ature and  the  disposition  of  the  chicks.  If  they  wish 
to  be  quiet,  leave  them  alone.  If  they  are  restless 
and  impatient,  let  them  out  more.  If  they  seem 
chilly,  get  them  in  at  once.  Never,  never,  allow 
chicks  to  huddle.  The  minute  they  begin  to  lean 
against  each  other,  get  them  in.  This  is  the  sign 
that  they  are  cold. 

There  are  no  set  rules  for  raising  brooder  chicks. 
The  best  any  one  can  do  is  to  use  his  common  sense. 
The  caretaker  of  a  brooder  flock  is  in  loco  parentis 
always  and  must  expect  to  do  anything  a  hen  does 
except  cluck. 

If  the  chicks  do  not  seem  warm  enough,  it  is  a 
good  plan  to  set  a  jug  of  hot  water  in  the  brooder. 
The  quilt  will  have  to  be  removed,  and  a  blanket 
spread  over  the  top  of  jug  and  box,  so  that  it  rests 
on  the  backs  of  the  chicks.  This  is  a  very  satisfac- 
tory way  of  brooding  chicks,  for  they  like  nothing 
better  than  to  cuddle  against  something  warm,  but 
it  is  difficult  to  maintain  the  proper  temperature. 

In  Heated  Brooders 

With  heated,  as  with  fireless,  brooders  the  main 
problem  is  warmth,  only  in  using  the  heated  brood- 
ers it  is  still  more  difficult.  Here  you  have  over- 


76  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

heating  as  well  as  chill  to  guard  against,  and  the 
ventilation  problem  as  well.  If  I  should  attempt  to 
classify  the  enemies  against  which  one  must  con- 
tend with  different  ways  of  brooding,  it  would  be 
something  like  this: 

Hens — Vermin. 

Fireless  brooders — Chill  and  vermin. 

Heated  brooders — Chill,  vermin  and  overheating. 

The  more  artificial  your  system  becomes,  the  more 
complications  arise  and  the  more  watchful  must 
the  caretaker  be. 

Before  the  incubator  hatch  comes  off,  the  brooder 
must  be  ready.  It  was  disinfected  when  it  was  put 
away  at  the  end  of  last  season's  work  and  again  at 
the  beginning  of  this  season's,  and  it  must  certainly 
be  cleaned  and  disinfected  between  hatches,  not  so 
much  from  fear  of  white  diarrhea,  as  because  of 
the  wicked  red  mite,  which  is  a  more  dangerous  foe. 
After  the  brooder  has  been  swept  and  washed  till  it 
looks  clean,  go  over  it  with  a  cloth,  wet  in  water 
containing  a  little  creolin.  If  the  brooder  has  been 
infested  with  mites,  this  will  not  be  sufficient.  Every 
bit  of  wood  should  be  painted  with  the  kerosene  and 
carbolic  acid  mixture  (1  part  crude  carbolic  acid  to 
3  or  4  of  kerosene) .  Go  over  it  inside  and  out,  for 
mites  will  go  through  if  there  is  a  tiny  crack  any- 
where. 

When  it  is  thoroughly  clean,  cover  the  floor  of  the 
brooder  with  clean,  coarse  sand,  and  on  top  of  the 
sand  scatter  cut  alfalfa,  either  green  or  dry.  A 
little  dry  straw  under  the  hover  will  help  to  make 
the  chicks  comfortable.  Scatter  grit  and  steel-cut 
oats  in  the  litter,  and  provide  a  fountain  of  fresh 
water,  and  your  brooder  is  ready,  except  for  the 
matter  of  heating. 

The  brooder  lamp  should  be  cleaned  and  filled 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  77 

and  lighted  at  least  twenty-four  hours  before  the 
chicks  are  to  be  taken  from  the  incubator,  and  the 
thermometer  should  Ishow  a  temperature  of  100 
degrees  or  more.  Remember  the  chick  comes  from 
a  temperature  of  103  or  104  degrees,  and  while  the 
temperature  was  lowered  somewhat  while  he  was  in 
the  nursery,  it  was  not  enough  to  harden  him.  Re- 
member too,  that  the  hen's  temperature,  if  she  were 
brooding  him,  would  be  105  degrees,  and  that  he 
likes  to  be  very  warm.  If  your  brooder  lamp,  like 
one  I  used,  does  not  heat  the  brooder  sufficiently, 
add  hot  water  in  pails,  jugs  or  jars  till  you  reach 
the  100  mark. 

Directions  for  using  brooders  usually  say :  "Leave 
the  chicks  in  the  incubator  nursery  twenty-four  to 
forty-eight  hours  after  hatching."  This  is  all  right 
for  experts,  but  for  beginners  I  believe  it  is  safer 
to  take  the  chicks  from  the  nursery  as  soon  as  the 
hatch  is  over  and  put  them  in  a  flannel-lined  box  or 
basket.  Cover  them  well  with  a  warm  blanket,  and 
if  they  do  not  sleep  quietly,  let  them  have  a  flannel- 
wrapped  jug  of  hot  water  to  cuddle  about.  I  say 
this  because  I  have  found  it  very  difficult  to  control 
the  heat  in  the  nursery  of  an  incubator.  If  the 
thermometer  is  left  hanging  where  it  was  during 
the  hatch,  it  will  not  show  what  the  temperature  is 
in  the  nursery,  and  if  it  is  placed  in  the  nursery  it 
is  more  than  likely  to  be  knocked  over,  so  that  you 
cannot  see  it  at  all.  If  the  chicks  lie  quietly  and 
sleep,  the  heat  may  be  just  right,  or  it  may  be  too 
high.  If  they  stand  up  or  peep  miserably,  they  are 
cold.  A  newly  hatched  chick  never  peeps  if  it  is 
comfortable. 

The  idea  is  to  gradually  lower  the  temperature 
from  the  time  the  chicks  are  out  of  the  shell,  and  you 
cannot  do  this  unless  you  know  the  temperature. 


78  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

When  the  chicks  are  once  in  the  brooder  (of  course 
they  have  been  kept  carefully  covered  in  transit) 
you  can  soon  find  out  whether  the  brooder  is  warm 
enough.  If  the  chicks  lie  flat  under  the  hover  and 
sleep,  they  are  warm;  if-  they  stand  up,  they  are 
chilly.  "Give  them  heat  till  they  flatten  out"  is  an 
excellent  rule. 

It  will  be  necessary  at  first  to  fasten  the  chicks 
under  the  hover  with  a  board,  only  letting  them  out 
to  eat  the  first  day,  and  they  must  be  pushed  back 
under  the  hover  from  time  to  time  when  they  seem 
cold  or  when  it  is  time  for  them  to  rest,  till  they 
have  learned  where  to  go  when  they  are  cold  or  tired. 
The  mother  hen  calls  her  babies  constantly  the  first 
few  days,  and  they  learn  almost  at  once  that  that 
soft,  comfortable  cluck  means  comfort.  The  person 
who  cares  for  an  incubator  brood  must  be  just  as 
unremitting  in  his  attention  as  the  mother  hen.  Neg- 
lect the  first  four  days  means  great  loss.  After  this 
time  the  chicks  rapidly  become  hardened  and  may 
be  left  longer  to  themselves. 

Chicks  reared  in  heated  brooders  need  heat  for 
about  six  weeks,  but  chicks  that  have  been  trans- 
ferred to  fireless  brooders  at  two  or  three  weeks  of 
age  soon  learn  to  do  without  artificial  heat  and  are 
more  vigorous  without  it. 

Cold  Brooders 

When  they  have  outgrown  the  need  of  heat,  chicks 
in  the  colony-house  brooder  will  begin  to  roost  on 
low  roosts  which  are  provided  in  the  same  house. 
Chicks  raised  in  lamp  or  fireless  brooders  can  be 
transferred  at  this  time  to  small  coops,  called  cold 
brooders,  where  they  can  roost  if  they  wish.  It  is 
not  usually  necessary  to  teach  them  to  roost.  They 
will  learn  gradually  if  the  roosts  are  there. 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT 


79 


When  I  transfer  chicks  from  the  brooder  to  the 
cold  brooder  I  give  them  a  box  or  basket  of  litter  to 
sleep  in.  This  is  cleaned  out  every  day,  so  they 


A-  2"  POULTRY  NETTING 


FIG.  23 COOP  TOR  CHICKS  JUST  OUT  OF  BROODER 

have  always  a  comfortable  bed  beneath  the  roosts. 
One  by  one  they  find  their  places  on  the  roosts  with- 
out further  trouble  on  my  part. 

EXERCISE  FOR  CHICKS 

With  the  exception  of  the  necesary  warmth  the 
first  week  after  hatching,  nothing  is  quite  so  vital  to 
the  life  and  health  of  the  chick  as  exercise.  Its  im- 
portance cannot  be  overestimated.  It  means  good 
digestion,  muscular  development,  all,  in  fact,  that  it 
means  to  human  beings.  Pullets  that  have  not  as 
chicks  had  sufficient  exercise  to  develop  the  egg- 
laying  organs  rarely  make  good  layers.  It  is  the 
sine  qua  non  with  all  fowls,  but  especially  with 
growing  chicks,  for  they  are  laying  the  foundation 
for  later  vigor  and  usefulness. 


80  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

Green  range  is  the  best  solution  of  the  exercise 
problem.  Chicks  that  are  on  range  need  no  other 
exercise,  and  one  has  only  to  watch  the  activity  of  a 
brood  of  chicks  two  weeks  old  to  realize  what  it 
means  to  be  deprived  of  this  outlet  for  the  energies. 

It  ought  to  be  possible  on  any  farm  to  give  chicks 
free  range.  On  a  back  lot  it  is  more  difficult,  but  by 
fencing  in  the  garden  with  inch-mesh  wire  some 
range  may  be  given,  and  young  chicks,  if  the  hen  is 
confined,  will  not  hurt  the  garden. 

A  patch  of  alfalfa  for  the  exclusive  use  of  chicks 
may  be  easily  had  anywhere  except  on  a  city  lot. 
Even  a  small  patch  will  do.  The  chicks  can  pick 
their  own  green  feed  and  much  of  their  animal  food 
in  the  shape  of  insects,  and  they  get  the  exercise, 
which  is  beyond  price. 

When  green  range  cannot  possibly  be  had,  deep 
scratching  litter  is  the  best  substitute.  At  the  Cali- 
fornia experiment  station  brooder  chicks  are  made 
to  dig  for  every  grain  as  soon  as  they  have  learned 
to  eat. 

KEEP  YOUNG  STOCK  GROWING 

It  is  not  enough  to  get  chickens  well  started.  While 
it  is  true  that  a  chick  three  weeks  old  is  half  raised, 
there  is  still  the  other  half  of  the  raising  to  accom- 
plish, and  failure  anywhere  is  fatal,  not  to  life,  but 
to  profit.  Lice,  overheating,  lack  of  ventilation, 
overcrowding,  insufficient  or  improper  food,  expos- 
ure to  chill  winds,  may  any  one  of  them  give  a  set- 
back from  which  the  chick  will  not  recover. 

Pullets  that  are  depended  on  for  fall  eggs  must 
make  steady  growth  from  start  to  finish.  The  devel- 
opment of  the  egg-producing  organs  is  not  a  thing 
apart  which  takes  place  just  before  the  fowl  begins 
to  lay.  It  is  coincident  with  the  development  of  the 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  81 

rest  of  the  body,  and  so  small  a  matter  as  the  con- 
stant teasing  and  irritation  of  lice  is  enough  to  af- 
fect it. 

At  two  months  of  age  pullets  and  cockerels  should 
be  separated,  the  cockerels  confined  and  fattened  for 
broilers  and  the  pullets  put  in  colony  houses  where 
they  will  have  as  much  range  as  possible. 

A  colony  house  8  x  12  will  hold  fifty  Leghorn  pul- 
lets and  a  somewhat  smaller  number  of  pullets  of 
the  heavy  breeds. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Feeding 

POULTRY  FEEDS 

Food  substances  are  classified  as  (1)  water,  (2) 
carbohydrates,  (3)  fat,  (4)  protein,  (5)  ash. 

Water  constitutes  about  three-fifths  of  the  egg  and 
three-fourths  of  the  body  of  the  fowl.  An  abun- 
dant supply  of  pure  water  is  therefore  a  necessity 
to  both  chick  and  laying  hen. 

Carbohydrates  are  the  sugars  and  starches.  They 
make  up  the  greater  part  of  all  grains  and  are  used 
to  produce  heat  and  energy. 

Fat  is  stored  up  heat  and  energy.  One  pound  of 
fat  develops  two  and  a  quarter  times  as  much  heat 
as  a  pound  of  sugar  or  starch.  In  finding  the  nutri- 
tive ratio  of  any  feed  the  amount  of  fat  is  multiplied 
by  2%  and  expressed  as  carbohydrates.  This  is  for 
convenience  merely. 

Protein  is  the  general  name  for  all  substances 
which  contain  nitrogen.  It  is  the  muscle  and  tissue 
maker  and  constitutes  all  the  solid  part  of  the  white 
of  an  egg.  Chicks  cannot  grow  nor  hens  lay  with- 
out protein.  Protein  can  take  the  place  of  carbo- 
hydrates as  a  producer  of  heat  and  energy,  but  noth- 
ing can  take  the  place  of  protein  as  a  repairer  of 
the  waste  of  the  body  or  for  making  eggs. 

Ash  is  the  mineral  matter  which  would  be  left  if 
everything  else  were  burned  away.  It  is  necessary 
for  bone  making. 

The  proportion  which  the  digestible  protein  in 
any  kind  of  feed  bears  to  the  digestible  fats  and 


FIG.   17 BREEDING  HOUSE   WITH  ADJUSTABLE  DOORS 


FIG.   18 PORTABLE  TARRED-PAPER  HOUSE 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  83 

carbohydrates  is  called  the  nutritive  ratio.  Thus, 
when  we  say  the  nutritive  ratio  of  shrunken  wheat 
is  1 :6.5,  we  mean  that  the  wheat  contains  one  part 
protein  to  six  and  a  half  of  carbohydrates  and  fats. 
There  is  a  difference  between  the  actual  protein  and 
that  proportion  of  the  actual  protein  which  is  diges- 
tible. Some  substances  like  oat  hay  contain  a  good 
deal  more  protein  than  it  is  possible  for  animals  to 
digest,  while  others  like  peas  and  beans  contain  the 
protein  in  such  shape  that  it  is  nearly  all  digestible. 

This  matter  of  digestibility  of  protein  in  its  vari- 
ous forms  is  a  very  difficult  one  to  understand. 
Probably  no  one  does  quite  understand  it.  Milo 
Hastings  says  in  "The  Dollar  Hen" :  "In  digestion 
these  proteins  are  all  torn  to  pieces  and  built  up  into 
other  kinds  of  protein.  Just  as  in  tearing  down  an 
old  house  only  a  portion  of  the  material  can  be  used 
in  a  new  house,  so  it  is  with  protein,  and  laboratory 
analysis  cannot  tell  us  how  much  of  the  old  house 
can  be  utilized  in  building  the  new  one." 

It  is  enough  for  us  to  know  that  protein  is  required 
and  that  some  feed  substances  contain  more  of  it 
than  others. 

Bulletin  164  of  the  Agricultural  Experiment  Sta- 
tion at  Berkeley  goes  into  the  composition  of  vari- 
ous feedstuffs  very  carefully,  and  should  be  in  the 
hands  of  every  feeder  of  poultry.  I  quote  from  it 
the  nutritive  ratios  of  a  few  of  the  most  common 
feeds : 

Wheat,  shrunken 1:6.5  or  1 :4.6 

Wheat,  plump 1 :6.9 

Oats 1:6.2 

Barley 1 :7.7 

Beans,  dried 1 :2.9 

Corn,  Indian 1 :8.5 

Corn,  Kaffir..  ,   1:10.3 


84  POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT 

Linseed  meal 1 :2.5 

Alfalfa,  green 1 :2.3 

Alfalfa,  hay 1 :3.3 

Cabbage 1 :5.1 

Beet,  mangel 1 :5.1 

Bran 1 :3.4 

Corn  meal 1 :11.5 

Middlings 1 :5.1 

Beef  scrap 1 :0.3  to  1 :1.1 

A  narrow  nutritive  ratio  is  one  in  which  the  pro- 
portion of  protein  is  large.  A  wide  nutritive  ratio  is 
one  which  contains  a  larger  proportion  of  carbohy- 
drates. In  California  a  nutritive  ratio  of  1 :4.5  or 
1 :5  is  preferred  to  the  wider  ratio  of  1 :6  generally 
prescribed  in  the  East. 

The  Balanced  Ration 

Far  easier  to  understand  is  the  classification  of 
foodstuffs  into  (1)  grains,  (2)  animal  food,  and  (3) 
green  food.  A  combination  of  these  three  kinds  of 
feed  in  the  proportion  which  has  been  found  best  for 
maintaining  the  health  of  the  fowl  is  called  a  bal- 
anced ration.  Technically,  a  balanced  ration  is  a 
combination  of  the  food  elements,  carbohydrates, 
protein  and  crude  fiber  in  a  given  proportion.  Prac- 
tically, no  one  needs  to  understand  these  chemical 
terms  in  order  to  be  a  good  feeder.  A  grain  ration 
of  wheat  and  corn  at  night,  with  a  dish  of  dry  bran 
to  add  bulk,  plenty  of  green  feed,  and  fresh  meat 
twice  a  week  to  take  the  place  of  the  bugs  and  worms 
the  fowl  would  find  on  free  range,  makes  a  perfectly 
balanced  ration.  It  is  only  because  a  slightly  differ- 
ent mixture  may  better  suit  the  needs  of  growing 
stock  or  force  a  few  more  eggs  from  the  laying  hen, 
or  because  cheaper  foodstuffs  will  answer  the  same 
purpose  that  we  need  to  devise  different  mixtures. 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  85 

Variety  is  the  main  object  and  purpose  of  all  ra- 
tions. The  hen  will  very  likely  pick  through  the 
mash  that  is  set  before  her  and  select  the  ingredients 
she  likes  best,  but  at  least  she  has  been  able  to  get 
them.  It  would  probably  be  just  as  well  to  set  hop- 
pers containing  bran,  corn  meal,  beef  scrap,  etc.,  each 
by  itself,  so  that  the  hen  may  balance  her  ration  to 
suit  herself,  but  this  is  not  quite  as  convenient  as 
mixing  them,  and  feeders  still  have  an  idea  they  can 
make  Biddy  eat  what  they  please  and  not  what  she 
pleases. 

Grains 

Wheat  is  the  best  single  grain  and  is  so  nearly  a 
balanced  ration  in  itself  that  fowls  will  thrive  on  a 
diet  of  wheat  alone  for  a  long  time.  Its  nutritive 
ratio  of  1 :6.5  or  less  brings  it  quite  near  the  nutritive 
ratio  of  1:5,  which  is  considered  best  for  fowls  in 
California,  and  its  lack  of  husk  renders  it  very  pal- 
atable to  the  fowl.  The  only  objection  to  wheat  is 
its  cost,  which  is  so  great  that  other  grains  must  be 
used  with  it. 

Corn  is  used  more  than  wheat  in  the  East,  but  is 
too  heating  for  this  climate  save  when  used  in  great 
moderation  or  for  young  or  market  stock.  A  little 
corn  may  be  part  of  the  grain  ration  for  the  Mediter- 
ranean breeds,  but  it  is  better  left  out  of  the  ration 
of  the  heavy  breeds.  Corn  meal  is  used  in  all  mashes 
in  winter. 

Oats,  with  a  nutritive  ratio  of  1 :6.2,  are  nearer  the 
perfect  feed  than  wheat  in  theory,  and  not  as  fatten- 
ing, but  in  practice  the  hulls  are  an  objection.  It  is 
difficult  on  this  coast  too  to  get  the  large  white  oats 
which  are  recommended  by  English  feeders,  and 
those  we  do  get  are  best  fed  sprouted.  Rolled  and 


86  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

steel  cut  oats  are  the  best  of  feeds  for  young  chicks 
and  turkeys. 

Barley  is  the  one  grain  that  is  cheap  in  California 
and  can  well  be  used  as  the  larger  part  of  the  grain 
ration.  Fowls  are  not  fond  of  it  dry,  but  the  whole 
grain  soaked  twelve  hours  and  drained  till  it  is  nearly 
dry,  or  about  twenty-four  hours,  and  mixed  with  a 
small  amount  of  wheat  and  whole  corn,  makes  an 
excellent  grain  ration  for  Leghorns.  Rolled  barley 
may  be  steamed  or  soaked  to  make  it  palatable. 
Ground  barley  is  largely  used  in  mashes.  Its  nutri- 
tive ratio  is  1 :8.1,  a  little  narrower  than  that  of 
rolled  barley  and  a  little  wider  than  that  of  whole 
barley.  Barley  meal  is  more  expensive  and  contains 
more  protein.  It  is  very  good  in  a  ration  for  chicks. 

Bran  and  middlings  are  by-products  from  the  mill- 
ing of  flour  and  are  an  important  part  of  mash  ra- 
tions all  over  the  country.  Bran  has  a  higher  nutri- 
tive ratio  than  wheat.  Middlings  contain  consider- 
ably more  digestible  carbohydrates  than  bran,  and 
hence  are  more  fattening.  Bran  is  valuable,  not  only 
for  its  high  protein  content,  but  because  it  adds  bulk 
to  the  ration. 

Stale  bread  can  sometimes  be  had  quite  cheaply 
from  bakeries  and  restaurants  and  is  an  excellent 
food.  Its  nutritive  ratio  is  about  the  same  as  that 
of  wheat.  It  is  most  satisfactory  when  used  in  the 
moist  mash.  Bread  that  has  commenced  to  mold 
should  never  be  used.  No  drying  or  heating  can 
destroy  the  mold  spores,  and  these  are  very  injurious 
to  fowls  of  all  ages. 

Vegetable  Protein 

Peas  and  beans  contains  a  great  deal  of  protein 
and  are  excellent  for  fowls  when  they  can  be  bought 
cheaply  and  prepared  in  such  a  way  that  they  are 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  87 

palatable.  Peanut  meal  and  the  four  oil  cake  meals, 
linseed  oil  cake  meal,  cocoanut  oil  cake  meal,  cotton 
seed  meal  and  soy  bean  meal,  are  all  very  rich  in 
protein  and  are  used  in  the  dry  mash  in  addition  to 
the  animal  food  when  a  forcing  ration  is  required 
and  at  molting  time,  but  they  are  too  expensive  to 
be  used  in  large  quantities  and  are  so  rich  in  oil 
that  they  affect  the  bowels  unless  used  with  great 
care. 

Animal  Foods 

Fresh  meat  is  the  best  of  all  animal  foods.  Some- 
times it  can  be  had  in  the  form  of  green  cut  bone 
or  pluck  cheaply  enough  to  supply  all  the  animal 
part  of  the  ration,  but  usually  this  is  impossible, 
and  feeders  are  forced  to  depend  on  beef -scrap,  one 
of  the  by-products  of  the  big  meat  packing  estab- 
lishments, and  fish  scrap.  Beef  scrap  contains  a 
very  large  amount  of  protein  and  is  therefore  gen- 
erally used  in  the  mash  to  balance  the  grain  part  of 
the  ration.  Fish  scrap  has  recently  come  into  use 
as  a  substitute  for  beef  scrap  and  is  used  with  it  in 
the  mash,  but  does  not  altogether  take  its  place. 

Much  of  the  beef  scrap  on  the  market  is  not  fresh. 
The  only  way  to  find  out  whether  it  is  fresh  or  not 
is  to  pour  boiling  water  over  it.  If  it  gives  out  a 
good  meaty  odor,  it  is  good. 

Milk,  in  the  form  of  skim  milk,  clabbered  milk  or 
cottage  cheese,  is  the  best  animal  food  there  is  for 
poultry.  The  clabbered  milk  is  particularly  good 
for  young  chicks  and  is  said  to  prevent  the  multi- 
plication of  bacteria  in  their  intestines.  Where 
enough  milk  can  be  had,  and  enough  is  all  the  fowls 
will  eat,  no  other  animal  food  is  needed. 

Green  Feed 
The  importance  of  green  feed  can  hardly  be  over- 


88  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

estimated.  It  is  not  primarily  an  egg  producer,  as 
animal  food  is,  but  it  is  so  essential  to  the  health 
of  the  fowls  that  there  can  be  no  steady  production 
without  it. 

Green  feed  is  equally  important  to  growing  chicks 
and  contains  mineral  salts  that  are  very  essential 
to  growth  and  well-being. 

Probably  alfalfa,  containing  as  it  does  4.94  per 
cent  crude  protein,  which  is  nearly  one-fourth  the 
solid  matter  which  composes  it,  is  the  best  green 
feed  for  poultry.  On  most  large  poultry  plants  a 
patch  of  alfalfa  is  grown  and  cut  up  in  the  clover 
cutter  for  the  daily  noon  meal  of  the  fowls.  Where 
other  greens  are  needed,  cabbage,  kale,  Swiss  chard, 
collards,  turnips,  mustard  and  lawn  clippings  may 
all  be  utilized.  Rape  is  excellent  for  growing  in 
poultry  pens.  Kale  requires  less  water  than  other 
greens  and  may  be  kept  growing  the  year  round. 
Lettuce  is  the  best  green  feed  for  baby  chicks. 

Sprouting  Oats 

When  a  sufficient  quantity  of  other  greens  can- 
not be  had,  sprouted  oats  are  a  very  good  substi- 
tute, but  they  must  not  be  allowed  to  grow  too  long 
unless  they  can  be  cut  fine.  The  fowls  relish  them 
most  when  the  sprouts  are  from  a  quarter  to  a  half 
inch  in  length. 

To  sprout  oats,  soak  them  twenty-four  hours, 
then  spread  on  the  bottom  of  a  box  which  has  cracks 
enough  for  drainage.  Spread  a  burlap  sack  over 
the  oats  and  sprinkle  sack  and  oats  often  enough  to 
keep  them  moist.  If  they  can  be  put  in  a  rather 
dark  place  they  will  sprout  more  quickly.  In  four 
or  five  days  they  are  ready  to  feed.  By  keeping  sev- 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  89 

eral  boxes  going  a  supply  of  succulent  greens  may 
he  had. 

Barley  can  be  sprouted  in  the  same  way. 

Egg  Makers 

Condimental  foods,  egg  foods,  egg  makers,  and 
other  preparations  advertised  to  increase  egg  pro- 
duction are  at  the  best  of  doubtful  value  and  often 
positively  injurious.  These  foods  are  all  stimu- 
lants, and  a  hen,  while  she  may  lay  more  eggs  for 
a  time  under  their  influence,  will  sooner  or  later 
suffer  from  the  reaction  which  follows  every  sort  of 
artificial  stimulation.  Feed  a  well-balanced  ration, 
with  plenty  of  green  feed  at  all  times  and  fresh 
meat  when  it  can  be  had  conveniently;  plan  for 
variety  in  the  diet;  give  a  hot  moist  mash  contain- 
ing vegetables  and  cut  up  greens  on  cold  mornings 
or  evenings.  Above  all,  see  that  your  hens  have 
exercise.  This  is  the  best  egg  maker  known. 

Grit  and  Shell 

Shell  is  very  necesary  to  the  laying  hen,  for,  while 
she  gets  some  lime  in  her  food,  she  does  not  get 
enough  to  make  good,  strong  egg  shells.  Oyster 
shell  is  better  than  clam  shells  for  this  purpose  and 
should  be  kept  before  laying  hens  at  all  times.  It 
is  also  necessary  for  growing  chicks  unless  they 
have  access  to  gravel. 

Grit  is  called  "the  hen's  teeth,"  and  should  be 
kept  before  all  ages  of  fowls.  If  the  soil  contains 
a  good  many  little  stones,  they  may  not  eat  much 
grit,  but  it  is  safer  to  keep  it  where  they  can  get 
it.  The  fowl's  gizzard  is  a  powerful  grinding  ap- 
paratus, but  it  needs  something  sharp  to  help  pul- 
verize the  food,  and  grit  is  cheap.  Especially  im- 
portant is  a  good  supply  of  grit  for  young  turkeys, 


90  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

for  their  digestion  is  more  delicate  than  that  of 
chickens. 

FEEDING  BABY  CHICKS 

The  feeding  of  baby  chicks  is  not  at  all  the  diffi- 
cult, complicated  matter  some  have  supposed  it  to 
be.  Given  mature,  healthy  parent  stock  and  a 
chick  well  hatched  and  brooded  in  warm,  clean  quar- 
ters, and  your  chick  will  grow  on  any  kind  of  suit- 
able food.  The  chick  cared  for  by  Mother  Biddy 
on  range  picks  up,  what?  Little  seeds,  bits  of  weed 
and  grass,  a  bug  now  and  then,  and  a  few  grains  of 
sand  if  it  needs  them.  Imitate  Nature  in  your  feed- 
ing. Give  little  seeds  and  grains,  suitable  to  the  size 
of  the  chick,  a  little  animal  food,  some  green  when 
it  is  old  enough  for  it,  and  your  chick  will  grow,  if 
only  other  conditions  are  right. 

Principles  are  always  better  than  rules  to  go  by, 
and  I  think  we  may  lay  down  as  the  fundamental 
principles  of  chick  feeding  the  following: 

1  The  chick  is  not  ready  to  eat  for  the  first  day 
or  two  of  its  life.  The  yolk  of  the  egg  which  it  took 
into  its  abdomen  the  day  it  was  hatched  will  suffice 
for  forty-eight  hours  or  longer,  and  that  is  all  the 
food  it  needs. 

2.  The  first  feed  should  be  dry  and  very  simple. 

3.  Feeding  should  be  progressive.     Food  which 
is  sufficient  for  the  first  week  is  not  enough  for  the 
second.     Make  the  ration  richer  and  more  varied 
after  the  first  week. 

4.  Chicks  must  have  protein  for  building  tissues 
and  making  feathers  and  ash  for  bones.     The  best 
and  cheapest  protein  for  chicks  is  found  in  milk — 
skim  milk,  buttermilk,  clabbered  milk  or  dried  milk. 
If  they  have  all  the  milk  they  want  they  need  noth- 
ing else.    Bone  meal  is  the  best  bone  maker.    See 
that  it  is  in  the  mash  after  the  first  week. 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  91 

The  Nursery  Feed 

Bread  and  hard  boiled  egg  has  been  the  time- 
honored  "first  feed"  for  baby  chicks,  and  it  does  no 
harm,  but  it  is  not  necessary.  Chicks  do  exactly  as 
well  when  started  on  rolled  oats  or  steel  cut  oats  and 
cracked  wheat.  One  of  the  most  successful  poul- 
trymen  I  know  starts  his  chicks  on  a  simple  mixture 
of  steel  cut  oats  and  cracked  wheat.  At  the  Cali- 
fornia Experiment  Station  the  first  two  days  a 
grain  mixture  of  fine  cracked  wheat,  fine  cracked 
corn  and  steel  cut  oats  is  given.  The  Oregon  Sta- 
tion recommends  rolled  oats  as  the  "first  feed,"  and 
this  has  been  my  own  standby.  I  give  rolled  oats 
scattered  over  the  sand  the  first  day,  and  steel  cut 
oats  or  commercial  chick  feed  the  second.  By  the 
third  day  the  chicks  have  a  dish  of  bran  to  peck  at, 
and  this  by  the  end  of  the  first  week  is  changed  to 
the  Cornell  mash.  A  hard-boiled  egg,  chopped  with 
bread  crumbs,  is  "tasty,"  if  given  occasionally,  and 
I  have  never  seen  any  harm  from  it,  but  some  poul- 
trymen  claim  that  it  is  constipating.  Bread  and 
milk  is  easier  to  prepare,  and  it  does  make  them 


grow! 


Sample  Rations 


CALIFORNIA  METHOD. — At  the  University  of  Cali- 
fornia farm  at  Davis  nothing  but  grain  is  given  the 
first  five  days.  Beginning  with  the  sixth  day  a  dry 
mash  of  two  parts  bran,  two  parts  shorts,  one  part 
corn  meal  or  barley  meal,  two  parts  beef  scrap,  one 
part  ground  bone  (fine)  and  three-tenths  part 
powdered  charcoal  by  weight  is  fed  at  ten  o'clock. 
For  the  next  two  weeks  the  chicks  get  this  dry  mash 
at  ten  o'clock,  and  the  grain  mixture  scattered  in 
deep  litter  early  in  the  morning  and  at  two  o'clock 


92  POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT 

in  the  afternoon.  The  mash  is  left  before  them 
for  only  a  short  time  at  first,  but  as  they  develop  it 
is  left  longer,  and  by  the  time  they  are  eight  or  ten 
weeks  old  they  have  access  to  it  at  all  times. 

CORNELL  MASH. — At  Cornell  the  first  five  days 
the  chicks  are  given  the  following  mixture,  moist- 
ened with  sour  skimmed  milk,  five  times  a  day: 
Eight  pounds  rolled  oats,  eight  pounds  bread 
crumbs  or  cracker  waste,  two  pounds  sifted  beef 
scrap,  one  pound  bone  meal.  The  grain  mixture, 
three  pounds  cracked  wheat,  two  pounds  cracked 
corn,  one  pound  steel  cut  oats,  is  kept  before  them  in 
a  little  tray.  A  little  of  the  following  dry  mash, 
which  after  the  fifth  day  is  always  before  them  in 
a  hopper,  is  mixed  with  the  grain  in  this  tray: 
Three  pounds  bran,  three  pounds  corn  meal,  three 
pounds  middlings,  three  pounds  beef  scrap,  one 
pound  bone  meal.  From  five  days  to  two  weeks 
they  have  the  grain  mixture  in  litter  twice  a  day, 
the  moist  mash  of  the  first  five  days  three  times 
a  day,  and  the  dry  mash  always  before  them.  From 
two  to  four  weeks  the  moist  mash  is  given  but  twice 
a  day  and  from  four  to  six  weeks  but  once  a  day. 
After  four  weeks  the  grain  ration  is  changed  to 
three  pounds  whole  wheat,  two  pounds  cracked  corn, 
one  pound  hulled  oats.  Grit,  charcoal,  shell  and 
bone  are  always  before  them  and  green  feed  is  given 
freely  scattered  over  the  moist  mash  or  separately. 

MAINE  RATION. — At  the  Maine  Station  several 
satisfactory  rations  have  been  used,  the  one  best 
liked  being  as  follows :  First  two  days,  hard-boiled 
eggs  mixed  with  six  times  their  bulk  of  rolled  oats. 
From  the  third  day  on  the  rolled  oats  and  egg  mix- 
ture is  fed  at  nine  o'clock  and  at  half  past  four  or 
five  o'clock.  Early  in  the  morning  and  at  half  past 
twelve  they  have  the  following  grain  mixture,  fed 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  93 

in  litter:  Fifteen  parts  cracked  wheat,  ten  parts 
steel  cut  oats,  fifteen  parts  fine  screened  cracked 
corn,  three  parts  fine  cracked  peas,  two  parts  broken 
rice,  five  parts  chick  grit,  two  parts  fine  charcoal. 
After  the  chicks  are  three  weeks'  old  the  rolled  oats 
and  egg  is  gradually  displaced  by  the  following 
mash,  which  is  fed  moist:  Two  parts  wheat  bran, 
four  parts  cornmeal,  two  parts  low-grade  flour,  one 
part  linseed  meal,  two  parts  beef  scrap. 

There  is  no  question  I  think  that  a  moist  mash  is 
more  forcing  than  a  dry  one,  especially  if  it  is  mixed 
with  sour  milk,  but  it  is  a  good  deal  more  trouble, 
and  most  poultrymen  do  not  consider  it  worth  while. 

THE  MISSOURI  WAY. — At  the  Missouri  Station  a 
little  clover  chaff,  shredded  alfalfa  or  fine-cut  straw 
is  sprinkled  over  the  floor  of  the  brooder  before 
the  chicks  are  placed  in  it.  A  fountain  of  sour  milk 
or  buttermilk  is  provided  the  first  half  of  the  day, 
and  longer  if  it  is  available.  If  not,  water  is  given 
the  chicks  in  the  afternoon.  The  first  feed  is  a 
mixture  of  two-thirds  rolled  oats  and  one-third 
wheat  bran,  with  a  small  amount  of  charcoal.  This 
is  fed  on  a  clean  board  or  paper  four  or  five  times 
a  day.  After  the  fourth  day  commercial  chick  feed 
is  added  to  the  mixture,  a  little  at  first  and  the 
amount  gradually  increased  till  the  grain  is  all  chick 
feed.  Rolled  oats  and  bran  are  still  fed  morning, 
noon  and  night,  and  the  chick  feed  is  thrown  into 
the  litter  between  meals. 

When  the  chicks  are  five  days  old  a  dry  mash  is 
kept  before  them.  It  consists  of  two  parts  wheat 
bran,  one  part  corn  meal,  one  part  shorts,  one-half 
part  rolled  oats  or  oatmeal.  To  every  hundred 
pounds  of  the  above  mixture  is  added  a  handful  of 
charcoal,  a  handful  of  bone  meal,  and  a  half  pound 
of  fine  table  salt. 


94  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

After  the  chicks  are  two  weeks  old  a  small  quan- 
tity of  dry  beef  scrap  is  added  to  the  mixture  and 
this  is  gradually  increased  till  the  sixth  week,  when 
the  dry  mash  mixture  consists  of  two  parts  bran, 
one  part  shorts,  one  part  corn  meal  and  one-half 
part  high-grade  dry  beef  scrap.  If  the  chicks  are 
on  range,  where  they  can  find  a  liberal  supply  of 
bugs  and  worms,  or  if  the  mash  is  mixed  with  sour 
milk  or  buttermilk,  the  beef  scrap  is  not  needed. 
Onions  chopped  fine  and  fed  either  separately  or  in 
the  moist  mash  are  recommended  for  occasional 
feeding  to  keep  the  chicks  in  good  condition. 

At  this  time  (six  weeks),  the  commercial  chick 
feed  is  exchanged  for  a  mixture  of  cracked  corn, 
wheat  and  Kafir  corn.  If  the  Kafir  corn  cannot  be 
had  conveniently,  a  mixture  of  equal  parts  of 
cracked  corn  and  whole  wheat  will  suffice.  When 
the  chicks  are  on  range  this  is  fed  in  hoppers  where 
the  chicks  have  access  to  it  at  any  time. 

PURDUE  RATION. — All  the  Purdue  rations  are  ex- 
tremely simple.  That  for  baby  chicks  is  as  follows : 
Grain : 

10  pounds  cracked  corn  (sifted). 
10  pounds  cracked  wheat. 
10  pounds  steel  cut  oats. 
Dry  Mash: 

10  pounds  bran. 
10  pounds  shorts. 
5  pounds  corn  meal. 
5  pounds  meat  scraps. 
2%  pounds  charcoal. 
Plenty  of  sour  milk. 

The  grain  is  given  in  litter  as  soon  as  the  chicks 
are  ready  to  eat.  The  mash  is  not  set  before  them 
till  they  are  from  five  to  seven  days  old,  and  it  is 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  95 

not  left  before  them  all  the  time  till  they  are  sev- 
eral weeks  old. 

IOWA  RATION. — The  following  ration  is  used  suc- 
cessfully at  the  Iowa  Experiment  Station: 
Cracked  grains: 
First  eight  weeks — 

Cracked  corn,  2  parts. 

Cracked  wheat,  1  part. 

Steel  cut  oats,  1  part. 
After  eighth  week — 

Coarsely  cracked  corn,  2  parts. 

Wheat,  1  part. 

Oats,  1  part. 
Ground  feed: 

First  two  weeks — 

Stale  bread,  3  parts. 

Oat  meal,  3  parts. 

Eggs,  4  parts. 

Bran,  1%  parts. 

Corn  meal,  1%  parts. 

Ground  bone,  %  part. 
After  second  week — 

Corn  meal,  3  parts. 

Middlings  or  shorts,  2  parts. 

Bran,  1  part. 

Beef  scrap,  1  part. 

Ground  oats,  1  part. 

Ground  bone,  1/2  part. 

Salt,  1-10  part. 

The  ground  feed  is  moistened  with  sour  milk  as 
at  Cornell,  and  the  beef  scrap  or  meat  meal  is  fed 
in  hoppers.  The  grain  is  fed  twice  daily  in  litter 
from  one  to  six  inches  deep. 

Continuous  Feeding 
The  question  is  often  asked  by  the  beginner,  "Shall 


96  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

I  keep  feed  before  my  chicks  all  the  time  or  feed 
them  only  at  certain  times?"  Where  a  moist  mash 
is  given  it  is  necessary,  of  course,  that  it  be  given 
regularly  at  stated  times  and  that  the  chicks'  crops 
be  not  already  full  when  it  is  given,  but  the  easiest 
and  safest  method  for  a  beginner  is  to  keep  the  feed 
always  before  the  chicks,  the  dry  mash  in  hoppers, 
and  the  grain  in  the  litter,  so  that  the  chicks  may 
be  kept  busy  scratching.  Where  this  method  is  fol- 
lowed there  is  no  reason  why  a  moist  mash  should 
not  be  given  three  times  a  day,  care  being  taken 
to  feed  only  what  the  chicks  will  clean  up  in  a  few 
minutes. 

There  is  little  danger  of  overfeeding  by  the  con- 
tinuous method,  and  the  weaker  chick  has  then  the 
same  chance  as  the  stronger. 

All  grain  should  be  fed  in  deep  litter  so  that  the 
chicks  may  have  the  exercise  of  scratching  for  it. 
Leg  weakness  and  other  troubles  are  thus  avoided. 
All  food  and  dishes  should  be  clean.  Never  leave 
wet  mash  standing.  It  soon  sours  and  is  then  unfit 
for  food.  Green  feed  should  be  fed  at  least  once 
a  day  after  the  first  week.  Chopped  lettuce  is  best 
at  first.  After  a  week,  or  whenever  the  chicks  are 
strong  enough  to  tear  it  to  pieces,  a  whole  head  of 
lettuce  may  be  given  at  once.  Later  Swiss  chard  or 
beet  leaves  will  do,  but  there  is  no  green  the  little 
chick  likes  so  well  as  lettuce.  Chicks  that  are  on 
range  will  soon  find  their  own  green  feed,  and  they 
are  lucky  if  they  have  an  alfalfa  patch  to  run  on. 

FEEDING  LAYING   HENS 

Two  objects  must  be  kept  in  view  in  feeding  lay- 
ing hens:  (1)  maintenance  of  bodily  health  and 
vigor,  (2)  egg  production. 

Maintenance  of  health  is  the  first  consideration, 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  97 

for  without  health  egg  production  must  inevitably 
cease.  Your  prolific  layer  is  not  the  pale-combed 
hen  that  mopes  in  a  corner  or  seeks  the  roost  an 
hour  before  sundown.  She  is  the  first  hen  out  in 
the  morning  and  the  last  one  in  at  night.  She  is 
first  at  the  feeding  trough  and  has  no  scruples  about 
snatching  any  choice  morsel  from  the  beaks  of  the 
other  hens.  She  is  the  hen  with  the  bright,  red 
comb  and  alert  eye,  the  hen  that  scratches  her  toe- 
nails  off. 

Before  a  hen  can  begin  to  produce  eggs,  she  must 
have  consumed  (1)  all  the  food  she  needs  to  main- 
tain bodily  functions  and  repair  waste,  and  (2) 
enough  more  to  put  some  surplus  fat  on  her  body. 
It  is  quite  plain,  therefore,  that  she  must  be  a  good 
eater. 

Experiments  at  Cornell,  where  a  large  number 
of  Barred  Rocks  were  killed  and  examined,  showed 
that  the  fattest  hens  invariably  had  eggs  nearly 
ready  to  lay  in  their  bodies,  while  the  leanest  hens 
were  dormant.  "The  best  explanation  of  the  fact 
that  the  hen  must  have  fat  in  her  body  to  lay  well," 
says  Professor  Rice,  "is  that  the  egg  is  developed 
in  the  ovary  in  the  form  of  little  ovules.  There  are 
hundreds  of  these  little  ovules,  so  small  that  we 
perhaps  cannot  see  some  of  them  with  the  naked 
eye.  These  ovules  form  in  follicles,  and  when  ripe 
these  burst  and  let  the  yolk  or  ovule  fall  into  the 
oviduct  and  then  pass  down  the  oviduct  where  the 
white  of  the  egg  is  formed  about  the  yolk.  A  chem- 
ical analysis  of  these  eggs  shows  that  sixty-four  per 
cent  of  the  dry  matter  of  the  yolk  of  the  egg  is  fat, 
and  that  it  is  the  only  fat  in  the  egg,  except  a  small 
fraction,  the  white  of  the  egg  being  practically  pure 
albumen,  the  shell  being  mineral  matter.  The  very 
first  part  of  the  egg  to  be  developed,  therefore,  must 


98  POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT 

contain  nearly  half  fat.  How  then  can  the  hen 
start  to  develop  the  first  part  of  the  egg  unless  it 
has  surplus  fat  in  its  body?  And  surplus  fat  is 
merely  stored-up  energy.  We  must  have  hens  in 
reasonably  fat  condition  before  they  will  do  their 
very  best  laying." 

Liberal  feeding  is  a  necessity.  Give  the  hen  all 
she  needs  to  keep  her  in  perfect  physical  condition, 
and  then  enough  more  to  put  some  fat  on  her  body, 
but  do  not  go  to  the  other  extreme  and  feed  her  till 
she  is  too  fat  to  lay.  This  horn  of  the  dilemma  is  a 
little  worse  than  the  other,  for  a  lean  hen  can  be 
fattened,  but  it  is  very  hard  to  reduce  an  overf at  hen. 

The  two  things  which  most  tend  to  make  a  hen 
overf  at  are  (1)  a  ration  too  rich  in  fats  and  carbo- 
hydrates, (2)  lack  of  exercise.  She  must  have 
plenty  of  feed,  but  it  must  not  be  fattening  feed, 
and  she  must  be  made  to  work  for  it.  A  narrow 
ration  is  best  for  breeds  that  take  on  fat  too  easily. 
Corn  and  cornmeal  should  be  avoided  except  in  cold, 
rainy  weather,  or  balanced  by  a  very  liberal  meat 
ration.  Tests  at  the  Massachusetts  Experiment  Sta- 
tion show  that  fat  in  the  ration  helps  to  digest  the 
protein  in  beef  scrap  and  other  animal  foods. 

Things  to  Consider 

"Things  to  consider  when  mixing  a  laying  ration, 
says  Bulletin  10  of  Purdue  University,"  are : 

1.  There  is  no  best  ration.    It  is  not  the  number 
of  pounds  of  feed  consumed  that  controls  results,  but 
the    quantity    of    digestible   food    material    in    the 
ration.     There  are  plenty  of  good  rations,  and  it 
makes  no  difference  what  they  are  made  of,  if  they 
will  produce  results. 

2.  Hens  should  be  fed  what  they  like. 

3.  Hens  know  best  how  much  to  eat,  but  the 


FIG.  32- — "FIRST  FEED"  FOR  BABY  CHICKS.     TWO  PARTS  ROLLED  OATS_,  ONE 

PART  BRAN  WITH  A  LITTLE  BONE  MEAL,  GRIT  AND 

CHARCOAL  MIXED  IN 


FIG.    33 HOME    MADE    TROUGH    AND    FOUNTAINS 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  99 

feeder  should  know  in  what  proportion  to  mix  the 
feeds  in  the  ration.  Give  a  hen  all  she  wants  of  a 
ration  made  up  of  the  proper  proportion  of  different 
feeds. 

4.  A  ration  should  contain  a  variety  of  feeds. 

5.  The  ration  must  be  cheap. 

6.  Fowls  need  grain,  meat  food,  mill  feeds,  green 
food,  grit,  shell  and  water. 

7.  Quality  and  not  quantity  is  important. 

8.  Exercise  is  absolutely  necessary. 

9.  The  conditions  under  which  the  flock  is  kept 
will   influence   any   ration;  for   example,   confined 
fowls  need  more  green  food  and  meat  food  than  do 
farm  fowls. 

Sample  Rations 

The  following  rations,  which  are  used  at  and 
recommended  by  various  state  experiment  stations, 
will  give  a  good  general  idea  of  what  a  ration 
should  be: 

PURDUE  EXPERIMENT  STATION. — Grain: 
10  pounds  corn. 
10  pounds  wheat. 

5  pounds  oats.  V 

Dry  mash : 

5      pounds  bran. 
5      pounds  shorts. 
3i/2  pounds  meat  scraps. 

The  mixed  grain  is  fed  in  deep  litter  lightly  in 
the  morning,  and  all  the  fowls  will  eat  in  the  even- 
ing. The  dry  mash  is  kept  in  a  hopper  open  before 
such  fowls  as  Leghorns  at  all  times.  For  heavier 
breeds  the  hopper  is  not  opened  before  noon,  because 
of  their  tendency  to  eat  too  much  and  thereby  cause 
digestive  troubles.  In  order  to  keep  the  ration 
properly  balanced,  the  13%  pounds  of  dry  mash 


100  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

should  be  consumed  in  the  same  length  of  time  as 
the  25  pounds  of  grain. 

MISSOURI  EXPERIMENT  STATION. — Grain  Mixture 
— In  winter  the  scratch  feed  is  composed  of  Yz 
coarsely  cracked  corn  and  y$  wheat.  In  spring  and 
fall  it  consists  of  equal  parts  cracked  corn  and 
wheat.  In  summer  it  is  changed  to  2  parts  wheat 
and  1  of  cracked  corn. 

Dry  Mash — When  ground  oats  are  to  be  had  a 
hopper  of  this  feed  and  nothing  else  is  kept  before 
the  fowls.  When  oats  cannot  be  had  the  mixture 
consists  of  2  parts  bran,  1  part  cornmeal  and  1  part 
shorts.  Sour  milk  or  buttermilk  is  kept  before 
them  when  it  is  available.  When  milk  is  not  given 
10  pounds  of  beef  scrap  is  mixed  with  each  100 
pounds  of  ground  oats. 

Between  one  and  three  o'clock  each  day  the  hens 
are  given  a  little  of  this  mash  moistened  with  but- 
termilk. Three  times  a  week  they  have  sprouted 
oats.  Sometimes  cabbage,  beets  or  turnips,  chopped 
fine,  are  substituted  for  the  oats. 

NEW  JERSEY  EXPERIMENT  STATION. — Grain  Mix- 
ture: Morning,  1  part  wheat,  1  part  clipped  oats. 
Evening,  2  parts  cracked  corn,  1  part  wheat,  1  part 
clipped  oats,  1  part  buckwheat 

Dry  mash : 

200  pounds  wheat  bran. 

200  pounds  middlings. 

200  pounds  ground  oats. 

100  pounds  corn  meal. 

100  pounds  gluten  meal. 

100  pounds  to  200  pounds  beef  scrap. 

100  pounds  short  cut  alfalfa. 

Gluten  meal  is  a  by-product  of  the  milling  of 
wheat  which  is  quite  extensively  used  in  the  east  and 
is  rich  in  protein.  It  is  not  known  in  California. 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  101 

MAINE  EXPERIMENT  STATION. — The  feeding  of  the 
pullets  after  they  are  brought  in  from  range  the  first 
of  September  is  progressive. 

The  first  month  in  the  laying  house  they  receive : 
Grain  mixture : 

Morning,  cracked  corn. 
Evening,  2  parts  wheat,  2  parts  oats. 
Dry  mash : 

300  pounds  bran. 
100  pounds  corn  meal. 
100  pounds  low  grade  flour. 
100  pounds  beef  scrap. 

The  second  month  in  the  laying  house  the  scratch 
mixture  remains  the  same,  but  the  dry  mash  is 
changed  to : 

200  pounds  bran. 
100  pounds  corn  meal. 
100  pounds  low  grade  flour. 
100  pounds  gluten  meal. 
100  pounds  beef  scrap. 

The  third  month  50  pounds  of  linseed  meal  is 
added  to  the  above;  the  fourth  month  the  linseed 
meal  is  omitted,  and  so  on.  The  experts  at  the  sta- 
tion find  that  by  adding  linseed  meal  only  every  other 
month  they  keep  the  pullets  from  moulting  in  the 
fall  and  maintain  a  higher  degree  of  health. 

ONTARIO  EXPERIMENT  STATION. — Summer  ration 
for  yarded  fowls:  Dry  mash,  in  hoppers;  for  old 
hens,  wheat  bran ;  for  pullets,  equal  parts  bran,  low 
grade  flour  and  barley  chop  or  meal.  Grain  fed 
twice  a  day,  wheat  in  the  morning  and  wheat  and 
barley  or  corn  in  the  evening,  corn  being  used  only 
when  very  cheap. 

Winter  ration:  Dry  mash  as  above.  Morning 
feed,  whole  wheat  from  six  to  eight  inches  deep  in 
litter;  about  noon,  a  little  more  wheat  and  whole 


102  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

mangels  or  clover  hay;  about  3:30  p.  m.,  wet  mash 
of  boiled  vegetables,  waste  bread  and  occasionally 
kitchen  scraps  thickened  with  the  same  meals  used  in 
the  dry  mash,  about  10  per  cent  beef  scrap  or  ani- 
mal meal  added,  except  when  green  cut  bone  is  given 
as  a  separate  feed;  just  before  dark  all  the  whole 
corn  the  birds  will  eat. 

WEST  VIRGINIA  EXPERIMENT  STATION. — Dry 
mash: 

Corn  meal 3V2  parts  by  weight 

Bran 5V&  parts  by  weight 

Middlings 3      parts  by  weight 

Oil  meal 1      part    by  weight 

Beef  scrap 2%  parts  by  weight 

Grain,  whole  corn  and  wheat  in  equal  parts. 
KANSAS  EXPERIMENT  STATION. — Dry  mash : 

Shorts  (middlings) 6  parts  by  weight 

Bran 3  parts  by  weight 

Corn  meal 6  parts  by  weight 

Beef  scrap 5  parts  by  weight 

Alfalfa  meal 1  part    by  weight 

Grain  mixture,  2  parts  wheat,  2  parts  corn,  1  part 
oats. 

Used  in  the  proportions  by  weight  of  21  pounds 
of  mash  to  25  pounds  of  grain,  the  ration  has  a  nutri- 
tive ratio  of  1 : 4,  a  very  forcing  ration. 

CORNELL  LAYING  RATION. — Grain  mixture : 
Winter — 60  pounds  corn,  60  pounds  wheat,   30 
pounds  oats,  30  pounds  buckwheat. 

Summer — 60  pounds  wheat,  60  pounds  corn,  30 
pounds  oats. 

Dry  mash,  summer  and  winter : 

60  pounds  corn  meal,  60  pounds  wheat  middlings, 

30  pounds  wheat  bran,  10  pounds  alfalfa  meal,  10 

pounds  oil  meal,  50  pounds  beef  scrap,  1  pound  salt. 

CALIFORNIA  EXPERIMENT  STATION. — In  Bulletin 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  103 

164  half  a  dozen  dry  mash  formulas  are  given  of 
which  the  following  is  typically  Calif ornian : 

Bran 6     quarts  or  3      pounds 

Corn  meal 1     quart     or  1.5  pounds 

Barley  meal 2     quarts  or  2.2  pounds 

Alfalfa  meal 1     quart    or  0.5  pounds 

Soy  bean  meal 1     quart     or  1.3  pounds 

Beef  scrap 1     quart    or  1.5  pounds 

Coarse  bone  meal. . .   0.5  quart     or  1.0  pound 
This  formula  is  calculated  for  100  hens  one  day 
and  is  intended  to  be  used  with  9  to  12  pounds  of 
grain  and  some  green  feed. 

A  SOUTHERN  CALIFORNIA  RATION. — The  following 
formula  has  been  successfully  used  by  a  large  num- 
ber of  Southern  California  poultrymen.     It  is  cal- 
culated for  a  ton  (or  about  a  ton)  of  mash : 
300  pounds  bran. 
300  pounds  shorts  or  middlings. 
100  pounds  feed  meal   (coarse  corn  meal). 
200  pounds  Kaffir  meal. 
150  pounds  beef  scrap. 
150  pounds  fish  scrap  or  whale  meat. 
70  pounds  fine  ground  bone. 
100  pounds  alfalfa  meal. 
400  pounds  ground  barley. 

10  pounds  salt. 

With  this  is  used,  for  Leghorns,  a  scratch  feed  con- 
sisting of  3  parts  whole  barley  (soaked  12  hours  and 
drained  24  hours)  and  2  parts  wheat,  with  a  little 
whole  corn  mixed  in. 

Methods  of  Feeding 

There  are  almost  as  many  methods  of  feeding  as 
there  are  feeders.  According  to  that  most  generally 
followed,  a  light  grain  feed  is  scattered  in  deep  litter 
in  the  morning,  and  a  heavier  grain  feed  given  at 


104  POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT 

night.  The  dry  mash  is  kept  before  the  hens  in 
hoppers,  so  that  they  may  help  themselves  at  any 
time.  At  noon  cut  alfalfa  or  some  other  green  feed 
is  given. 

Some  feeders  give  no  grain  at  all  in  the  morning, 
but  a  very  heavy  feed  at  night,  which  will  keep  the 
fowls  busy  scratching  the  next  day. 

The  dry  mash  is  more  generally  used  than  the  wet 
mash  because  it  is  more  convenient,  but  many  feeders 
still  use  the  wet  mash  occasionally.  Some  keep  the 
dry  mash  before  the  fowls  in  hoppers  and  give  a  wet 
mash  in  addition  either  in  the  morning  or  at  noon. 
When  a  wet  mash  is  used  care  should  be  taken  to 
give  no  more  than  the  fowls  will  eat  up  clean  in  a 
few  minutes.  Two  advantages  of  the  wet  mash  are 
(1)  that  table  scraps,  refuse  vegetables  and  stale 
bread  may  be  used  in  it  more  readily  than  in  any 
other  way,  (2)  that  it  is  more  appetizing  and  tempts 
the  fowls  to  eat  more  than  they  would  of  the  dry 
mash  alone. 

Tom  Barren,  the  English  breeder  of  White  Leg- 
horns, whose  hens  have  distanced  all  competitors  at 
the  egg-laying  contests  at  Storrs,  Connecticut,  and 
Mountain  Grove,  Missouri,  uses  a  combination  of  the 
wet  and  dry  mash  methods. 

In  the  early  morning  a  mixture  of  a  variety  of 
grains  is  fed  in  litter,  consisting  of  oats,  wheat, 
cracked  Indian  corn,  a  little  coarse  wheat,  a  few  split 
peas  and  a  small  quantity  of  dari  or  durra.  Before 
them  is  always  a  hopper  in  which  is  a  mixture  of  one 
part  ground  oats  and  three  parts  bran. 

At  noon  a  small  supply  of  the  grains  is  again 
given,  merely  to  keep  them  employed.  In  the  after- 
noon a  wet  mash  is  provided,  composed  of  about  one- 
third  bran,  one-quarter  thirds  or  middlings,  one- 
quarter  biscuit  meal,  one-eighth  meat  meal — fish 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  105 

meal  or  granulated  meal — and  one-eighth  clover  or 
alfalfa  meal.  The  thirds  are  sometimes  changed  for 
ground  oats.  In  the  water  with  which  this  is  mixed 
a  few  bucketfuls  of  ground  oats  have  been  steamed, 
these  being  used  in  the  mash,  which  is  made  crumbly. 
The  birds  are  fed  in  troughs,  as  much  as  they  will 
eat. 

It  is  a  good  plan  to  use  cooked  vegetables  as  the 
foundation  of  the  wet  mash  and  to  thicken  the  liquid 
in  which  they  are  boiled  with  stale  bread  and  the 
ground  grains  which  compose  the  dry  mash.  Potato 
skins  and  all  kinds  of  refuse  vegetables  may  be  used 
to  advantage  in  this  way. 

Effect  of  Feeds  on  the  Egg 

Experiments  at  the  Oregon  Station  (Bulletin  157) 
have  proved  that  it  is  possible  to  feed  both  color  and 
flavor  into  the  egg. 

Kale  and  alfalfa  give  a  good  deep  yellow  color  to 
the  yolk.  Sugar  beets  fed  instead  of  alfalfa  make 
a  pale  yolk.  Lack  of  color  in  the  yolk  is  an  almost 
sure  indication  that  the  hens  are  not  getting  enough 
green. 

Heavy  feeding  of  onions,  beef  scrap  or  fish  will 
flavor  the  egg.  Soft  shells  are  usually  due  to  lack 
of  lime.  Give  more  oyster  shell  when  you  find  your 
hens  laying  soft  shelled  eggs. 

My  own  experience  in  all  these  particulars  is  that 
some  hens  lay  better  colored  eggs  and  eggs  with 
thicker  shells  than  other  hens  will  lay  on  exactly  the 
same  ration. 

Cost  of  a  Dozen  Eggs 

Investigation  of  the  cost  of  producing  eggs  in  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  country  have  shown  that  a  dozen 
eggs  cost  the  producer  anywhere  from  six  to  eight 


106  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

cents  on  farms  of  the  Middle  West,  where  the  pro- 
ducer raises  all  his  feed,  to  twenty-one  cents  on  com- 
mercial egg  ranches  where  all  the  feed  is  bought. 

Every  egg  producer  should  know  what  it  costs  him 
to  produce  a  dozen  eggs,  and,  if  he  is  not  making  a 
profit,  he  should  manage  in  some  way  to  reduce  the 
cost.  This  may  be  done  (1)  by  raising  a  larger  part 
of  the  feed  himself,  (2)  by  feeding  cheaper  feeds, 
(3)  by  buying  feed  wholesale  instead  of  at  retail,  as 
many  small  poultrymen  do,  (4)  by  avoiding  waste 
in  every  possible  way,  (5)  by  giving  his  fowls  more 
green  range. 

FEEDING   MARKET   POULTRY 

No  chicken  of  any  age  should  be  marketed  until  it 
has  been  confined  two  weeks  and  fed  a  fattening 
ration.  Well  fattened  poultry  brings  a  higher  price 
and  sells  more  readily. 

Rations  for  Broilers 

Cockerels  which  are  to  be  marketed  as  broilers 
should  be  separated  from  the  pullets  as  soon  as  the 
sexes  can  be  distinguished,  which  is  at  the  age  of 
from  one  to  two  months,  according  to  breed.  They 
need  a  more  fattening  ration  than  is  good  for  pullets 
and  may  be  quite  closely  confined,  provided  their 
quarters  are  kept  clean. 

Fattening  Rations 

A  recent  government  bulletin  on  "The  Commercial 
Fattening  of  Poultry*'  gives  these  three  rations  found 
most  satisfactory  in  a  series  of  experiments  extend- 
ing over  several  years: 

No.  1 — 3  parts  corn  meal. 

2  parts  low  grade  flour. 
1  part     shorts. 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  107 

No.  2 — 3  parts  corn  meal. 

2  parts  low  grade  flour. 
No.  3 — 5  parts  corn  meal. 

3  parts  low  grade  flour. 
1  part  shorts. 

5  per  cent  tallow. 

All  are  mixed  with  thick  buttermilk,  except  No. 
3,  in  which  tallow  takes  its  place. 

The  Cornell  fattening  ration  consists  of : 
30  pounds  beef  scrap. 
100  pounds  corn  meal. 
100  pounds  oat  flour. 
100  pounds  ground  buckwheat. 
This  is  mixed  with  sour  milk. 
At  the  Missouri  Experiment  Station  feeding  ex- 
periments have  shown  that  (1)  whole  grain  does  not 
fatten  chickens,  (2)  it  is  cheaper  to  feed  the  grain 
finely  ground,  and  (3)  that  the  best  grains  can  be 
had  by  feeding  birds  finely  ground  feeds  when  con- 
fined in  crates.     The  following  ration  proved  most 
satisfactory : 

24  parts  white  bolted  corn  meal. 
6  parts  low  grade  flour. 
1  part  each  of  oatmeal,  pea  meal,  buckwheat 

middlings  and  wheat  middlings. 
The  flesh  of  the  birds  fed  on  this  ration  was 
creamy  white  in  color,  the  fat  distributed  over  the 
body,  and  the  entrails  were  encased  with  fat. 

At  Purdue  University  the  fattening  ration  con- 
sists of: 

2  pounds  corn  meal. 
1  pound     shorts. 
1  pound     ground  oats. 
8  pounds  buttermilk. 

Professor  Dryden  of  Oregon  Agricultural  College 
recently  said  in  regard  to  fattening  rations : 


108  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

"There  are  different  rations  that  can  be  fed  suc- 
cessfully. In  some  districts  corn  is  the  main  item, 
and  in  others  oats,  barley,  or  other  grain.  The  price 
of  grain  will  govern  the  ration  fed  largely. 

"There  is  no  better  fattening  food,  probably,  than 
good  plump  oats  fine-ground.  Barley,  ground  up 
fine,  is  also  good  as  part  of  the  ration.  A  good  ration 
would  be  ground  oats,  barley  and  middlings  in  equal 
parts  and  a  little  bran  mixed  with  buttermilk  or  sour 
milk." 

"If  one  cannot  get  milk  it  will  be  necessary  to  feed 
some  animal  meal  or  beef  scrap,  or  a  little  blood 
meal.  About  ten  per  cent  of  the  weight  of  the  grain 
is  the  right  proportion  of  blood  meal. 

"If  corn  is  as  cheap  as  the  other  grains,  I  would 
feed  corn  liberally.  The  grain  should  be  mixed  with 
about  twice  as  much  milk  as  of  ground  grain,  so  that 
it  will  be  very  soft  and  drip  from  the  end  of  the 
stick.  No  green  food  is  necessary. 

FEEDING  PULLETS  ON  RANGE 

At  the  Maine  Station,  after  the  cockerels  and  pul- 
lets are  separated,  the  pullets  (and  the  breeding 
cockerels)  are  put  on  range  and  fed  by  the  hopper 
method.  Cracked  corn,  wheat,  beef  scrap,  cracked 
bone,  oyster  shell  and  grit  are  put  in  separate  hop- 
pers and  left  where  the  pullets  can  help  themselves. 
In  another  hopper  is  the  dry  mash,  consisting  of  1 
part  bran,  2  parts  corn  meal,  1  part  middlings  and  1 
part  beef  scrap.  This  mash  is  suitable  for  use  when 
the  pullets  are  confined,  but  the  grain  should  be  fed 
in  deep  litter. 

At  the  Missouri  Station  the  pullets  are  fed  a  grain 
ration  consisting  of  equal  parts  of  cracked  corn  and 
wheat.  The  dry  mash  consists  of  equal  parts  of  corn 
meal,  bran  and  shorts.  If  sour  milk  or  buttermilk 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  109 

is  desirable,  no  beef  scrap  is  needed.  If  not,  10 
pounds  of  beef  scrap  is  added  to  every  100  pounds  of 
the  mash.  At  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  a  feeding  of 
the  same  mash  moistened  with  sour  milk  is  given, 
all  the  birds  will  clean  up  in  twenty  or  thirty  min- 
utes. 

It  is  very  important  that  the  pullets  which  are  to 
be  the  layers  of  the  following  winter  be  fed  a  whole- 
some, nourishing  ration,  and  have  free  range  if  pos- 
sible. The  egg  organs  cannot  develop  properly  with- 
out exercise,  and  the  best  exercise  is  that  found  on 
free  range. 

Leghorn  pullets  which  have  been  properly  fed  and 
cared  for  should  begin  laying  at  from  five  to  six 
months  of  age.  Pullets  of  the  heavier  breeds,  Rocks, 
Reds,  Wyandottes  and  Orpingtons,  cannot  be  ex- 
pected to  begin  before  seven  or  eight  months,  though 
I  have  had  many  Orpingtons  that  began  at  six 
months  and  a  few  even  earlier  than  that.  Anconas 
and  other  Mediterranean  breeds  begin,  like  the  Leg- 
horns, at  six  months  or  a  little  before. 

FEEDING  MOLTING  HENS 

Opinions  differ  in  regard  to  the  proper  feeding  of 
molting  hens,  but  the  best  practice  makes  little 
change  in  the  diet  at  this  time.  A  little  richer  and 
more  stimulating  ration  is  fed  than  at  other  times, 
and  a  little  more  generous  supply  of  food  is  given, 
for  the  molting  hen  is  manufacturing  feathers  and 
must  have  material  to  work  with. 

No  change  need  be  made  while  the  birds  are  losing 
their  feathers.  Many  hens  lay  right  along  during 
this  period,  and  they  should  be  allowed  to  lay  as  long 
as  they  will.  When  the  new  plumage  begins  to  grow 
is  a  time  of  special  strain,  a  time  when  protein  and 
oil  are  needed.  Give  the  hen  that  is  making  feath- 


110  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

ers  a  little  corn  and  sunflower  seed  in  the  scratch 
grain,  and  add  %  part  linseed  meal  to  the  mash.  A 
moist  mash  fed  once  a  day  is  especially  beneficial 
during  this  period,  and  if  a  little  fresh  meat  is 
cooked  in  this,  so  much  the  better.  A  sheep's  pluck, 
which  can  be  bought  for  five  cents,  cooked  and 
chopped  ,  and  the  soup  in  which  it  was  cooked  thick- 
ened with  bran  and  middlings,  makes  a  good  break- 
fast for  these  molting  hens,  and  is  worth  far  more 
than  it  costs. 

Many  poultry  keepers  feed  stimulants  and  tonics 
during  the  molt,  but  I  have  never  found  it  necessary. 
A  hen  that  is  not  vigorous  enough  to  go  through  the 
molt  in  good  shape  without  tonics  had  better  be  sent 
to  the  butcher. 

The  molting  period  is  a  good  time  for  culling  out 
the  hens  that  are  lacking  in  vigor.  As  a  rule  the 
older  a  hen  is,  and  the  later  she  molts,  the  more 
quickly  will  she  molt.  Hens  that  molt  more  slowly 
than  their  contemporaries  or  that  seem  weakened  or 
depressed  may  well  be  eliminated  from  the  flock. 

Overfat  hens  should,  of  course,  be  "reduced"  be- 
fore they  go  into  the  molt. 

The  practice  of  starving  the  hens  in  order  to  force 
an  early  molt  is  condemned  by  nearly  all  experiment 
stations.  After  experiments  with  White  Leghorns 
covering  several  seasons  the  Cornell  Station  declared 
that  there  was  nothing  whatever  to  be  gained  by 
forcing  the  molt.  In  the  words  of  the  bulletin  (No. 
258)  : 

"As  compared  with  the  fed  flocks,  the  starved  hens 
molted  slightly  earlier  and  more  uniformly ;  were  in 
somewhat  better  condition  at  the  end  of  the  molt; 
molted  (average)  in  slightly  less  time;  gained  less 
above  first  weight  during  molt ;  gained  slightly  more 
in  weight  during  the  year ;  resumed  production  some- 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  111 

what  more  quickly  after  molt;  laid  a  few  more  eggs 
during  winter ;  were  materially  retarded  in  egg  pro- 
duction ;  produced  less  eggs  after  the  molt  was  com- 
pleted; produced  eggs  at  a  greater  cost  per  dozen; 
consumed  slightly  less  food  during  the  year;  had 
slightly  less  mortality ;  showed  slightly  more  broodi- 
ness,  and  paid  a  much  smaller  profit. 

"The  general  conclusions  were  that  with  the  meth- 
ods employed  with  White  Leghorn  fowls  one,  two 
and  three  years  old,  it  does  not  pay  to  'force  a  molt* 
by  starvation  methods  and  that  apparently  it  is  good 
policy  to  encourage  hens,  by  good  care  and  feeding, 
to  lay  during  late  summer  and  fall,  rather  than  to 
resort  to  unusual  means  to  stop  laying  in  order  to 
induce  an  early  molt,  with  the  hope  of  increasing  pro- 
ductiveness during  early  winter,  a  season  which  is 
naturally  unfavorable  for  egg  production.  In  short, 
it  appears  wise  when  hens  want  to  lay  to  let  them 
lay." 

Rules  for  Feeding 

Three  things  characterize  the  feeding  of  a  skilful 
feeder : 

1.  REGULARITY.    He  does  not  give  two  meals  to- 
day and  three  tomorrow,  nor  does  he  give  a  moist 
mash  today  at  noon  and  tomorrow  at  night.    If  he 
has  decided  that  it  is  wise  to  let  his  hens  get  their 
breakfast  from  the  dry  mash  hoppers,  he  holds  to 
this  rule  till  he  sees  good  reason  for  changing  it,  and 
does  not  feed  breakfast  today  and  none  tomorrow. 
Neither  does  he  permit  kind-hearted  neighbors  to 
throw  scraps  over  the  fence  at  any  hour  of  the  day. 
He  plans  his  regime  according  to  circumstances,  and 
then  holds  to  it. 

2.  PUNCTUALITY.     His  fowls  get  their  meals  not 
only  at  the  hour  when  they  expect  them,  but  also 


112  POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT 

at  the  time  when  they  need  them.  The  first  thing  a 
hen  does  when  she  gets  off  the  roost  in  the  morning  is 
to  look  for  something  to  eat.  If  she  finds  nothing, 
every  hour  spent  in  waiting  is  time  lost  from  the 
business  of  the  day.  The  poultry-keeper  who  is  not 
disposed  to  hustle  out  in  the  morning  by  5 :30  or  6 
o'clock  must  set  the  table  the  night  before.  Throw 
grain  in  the  litter  the  night  before  so  that  Biddy  can 
get  to  work  early,  and  if  a  moist  mash  is  to  be  fed 
it  can  wait  until  she  has  scratched  awhile. 

3.  VARIETY.     It  is  not  enough  to  feed  a  balanced 
ration.     The  ration  needs  to  be  changed  from  time 
to  time  lest  Biddy's  appetite  lag.     Feed  a  variety  of 
grains  every  day  and  change  the  mixture  occasion- 
ally.    If  you  have  been  feeding  wheat  and  barley  for 
some  time,  try  wheat  and  Kaffir  corn  or  wheat  and 
oats.     If  the  meat  food  has  been  beef  scrap,  use  fish 
scrap  for  a  change,  or  add  soy  bean  meal.     The  hen 
appreciates  these  little  concessions  to  her  taste  and 
discrimination  and  will  show  her  appreciation  in  a 
substantial  way. 

4.  PLENTY.     The  skilful  feeder  does  not  sit  down 
to  his  own  evening  meal  until  he  is  certain  his  hens 
have  had  all  they  want.     It  may  be  necessary  in 
feeding  heavy  hens  to  make  the  morning  meal  very 
light  or  omit  it  altogether,  but  at  night  every  hen's 
crop  should  be  full.     There  is  no  fixed  rule  for  the 
amount  to  be  fed  to  a  hen  in  a  day  or  at  a  meal. 
Hens  differ  in  their  needs  and  in  their  appetites. 
An  Orpington  needs  considerably  more  than  a  But- 
tercup.    A  laying  hen  requires  more  than  a  hen  that 
is  not  laying.     It  is  a  good  plan  to  leave  the  mash 
hoppers  always  accessible,  unless  for  some  good  rea- 
son it  is  desired  to  reduce  the  ration,  and  to  throw 
in  deep  scratchng  litter,  either  all  at  once  or  at  dif- 
ferent times  during  the  day,  sufficient  grain  to  keep 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT 


113 


the  hens  scratching.  In  general  the  amount  of  grain 
fed  for  a  single  meal  is  approximately  a  quart  to  a 
dozen  hens,  but  the  main  thing  is  to  know  that  the 
fowls'  crops  are  well  filled  when  they  go  to  roost. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Breeding 

THE  BREEDING  PEN 

The  breeding  pen  may  well  be  called  the  heart  of 
the  flock.  All  else  centers  about  it.  When  the 
breeding  pen  is  not  what  it  should  be  everything 
deteriorates — egg  production,  size,  health,  whatever 
is  most  desired  in  a  flock — and  in  a  few  years  the 
plant  is  "f  or  sale  at  a  sacrifice." 

The  foundation  of  the  breeding  pen  is  vigor. 

Culling 

The  selection  of  breeding  stock  should  begin  the 
day  the  chicks  are  hatched.  The  first  chicks  out  of 
the  shell  are  usually  the  most  vigorous.  The  sturdy, 
bright-eyed  babies  that  crowd  round  the  incubator 
window  waiting  for  their  weaker  brothers  and  sisters 
to  hatch,  or  peep  out  from  under  Mother  Biddy's 
wings  before  half  the  eggs  are  pipped,  are  the  ones 
to  mark  as  possible  future  breeders.  Put  the  weak, 
late  hatched,  sunken-eyed,  pinched  looking  chicks  by 
themselves  where  they  can  have  special  care  and  not 
interfere  with  the  growth  of  the  others,  and  in  nine 
cases  out  of  ten  you  will  find  as  they  develop  that 
your  best  chicks  are  in  the  first  lot. 

Cull  again  as  they  feather.  The  strongest  cock- 
erels always  feather  out  first.  The  slow  feathering 
ones  should  be  put  by  themselves  and  fed  for  broilers. 

As  the  pullets  approach  maturity  cull  out  again 
those  which  are  largest  and  strongest  for  their  age. 
Those  which  lag  behind  had  better  go  to  market  with 


FIG.    24 TYPICAL    WHITE   LEGHORN    HEN 


FIG.    25 PULLET   OF   HIGH    VITALITY  FIG.    26 ROSE    COMB    WHITE 

LEGHORN 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  115 

the  surplus  cockerels.  The  pullets  which  lay  ear- 
liest will  probably  be  the  best  layers.  Band  these 
early  layers  and  trapnest  them  if  it  is  not  convenient 
to  trapnest  the  whole  flock. 

Marks  of  Vigor 

Selection  of  individuals  for  the  breeding  pen 
should  be  based  on  one  quality,  constitutional  vigor. 
Heavy  egg  production,  while  it  is  extremely  desirable 
in  a  breeder,  is  not  of  first  importance.  In  fact, 
many  high  producers  break  down  under  the  strain 
and  are  unfit  to  transmit  their  fecundity  to  their  off- 
spring. The  hen  selected  as  a  breeder  should  be  a 
good  layer,  but  she  should  be  something  more.  She 
must  be  a  good  eater  or  she  cannot  manufacture  eggs 
and  at  the  same  time  keep  up  her  own  vitality.  She 
must  be  absolutely  healthy.  She  must,  in  short,  have 
that  indefinable  something  known  as  vigor. 

In  selecting  for  vigor,  we  look  first  at  the  shape  of 
the  fowl.  The  body  of  the  vigorous  cockerel  or  pul- 
let always  has  a  tendency  to  fill  a  parallelogram. 
Such  a  fowl  will  have  good  depth  of  body,  full  breast, 
full,  well-rounded  abdomen  and  a  good  broad  back. 
It  will  have  glossy,  well-developed  plumage,  promi- 
nent, bright  eyes,  thick  beak,  short  neck  and  heavy 
thighs,  set  wide  apart.  This  last  mark  of  vigor  is 
particularly  important  in  the  male.  Never  use  a 
male  that  is  not  wide  between  the  legs,  no  matter  how 
good  he  is  in  other  respects. 

The  voice  is  another  test  of  vigor.  The  rooster 
that  crows  often  and  loudly,  as  well  as  the  hen  that  is 
always  cackling  and  singing,  is  the  vigorous  bird. 
It  is  said  that  in  some  foreign  countries  it  is  cus- 
tomary to  have  crowing  contests  as  a  test  of  fighting 
quality.  A  weak  cockerel  very  seldom  crows. 

The  shape  and  appearance  of  the  head  are  certain 


116  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

indications  of  vigor  or  the  lack  of  it.  The  strong 
fowl  has  a  fairly  large  head,  well-rounded,  with 
bright  red,  well-shaped  comb.  The  weak  fowl  is  apt 
to  have  what  is  called  a  "crow's  head,"  rather  long 
and  thin. 

A  vigorous  bird  holds  the  tail  well  up.  It  is  also 
active  and  alert  in  its  manner.  Suspect  every  bird 
that  slouches  around  with  its  tail  down  or  mopes  in 
corners  or  on  the  roost.  These  actions  may  indicate 
illness,  and  they  always  indicate  lack  of  a  vigorous 
constitution.  The  hen  that  gets  off  the  roost  first 
in  the  morning  and  goes  back  to  it  last  at  night  and 
is  always  on  the  move  is  the  hen  we  want  to  breed 
from. 

Well  colored  shanks  of  the  color  characteristic  of 
the  breed  are  another  indication  of  vigor.  Never 
select  a  breeding  bird  with  pale  shanks  or  shanks 
that  are  long  and  thin  and  cold. 

Probably  no  one  thing  is  a  surer  indication  of  the 
health  and  stamina  of  a  bird  than  the  appetite.  The 
hen  that  stands  back  when  the  other  fowls  crowd 
around  the  feeding  trough  should  be  watched.  Abil- 
ity to  consume  and  assimilate  large  quantities  of 
food  is  an  absolute  necessity,  whether  we  want  eggs, 
good,  fat  market  birds,  or  fertility.  All  birds  should 
be  examined  on  the  roost  at  night  from  time  to  time, 
and  those  with  little  feed  in  the  crop  marked  as 
probably  of  doubtful  vigor.  This  is  a  test  that  rarely 
fails. 

The  Male  Bird 

The  male  bird  chosen  to  head  the  breeding  pen 
should  have  not  only  the  marks  of  vigorous  consti- 
tution which  are  common  to  all  fowls,  but  he  should 
have  also  the  marks  of  a  vigorous  male, — in  other 
words,  he  should  be  well  sexed,  with  well  developed 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  117 

comb  and  wattles  and  protuberant  spurs.  He  should 
also  be  a  bird  that  showed  his  sex  early.  Rev.  Edgar 
Warren,  a  Massachusetts  expert,  says  this  is  one  of 
the  surest  marks  of  a  good  breeder.  Watch  your 
growing  chicks  for  the  first  sign  of  sex,  which  is 
usually  the  developing  comb,  and  mark  the  birds 
that  you  can  first  pick  out  as  roosters.  I  have  had 
Buff  Orpingtons  that  showed  their  sex  before  they 
were  a  month  old.  The  Mediterranean  breeds  seem 
to  develop  a  little  more  slowly. 

Gallantry  to  his  hens  is  one  of  the  essential  marks 
of  a  good  male.  The  cock  that  stands  by  indiffer- 
ently and  lets  you  pick  up  one  of  his  harem  and 
carry  her  off,  or  that  crowds  to  the  trough  and  helps 
himself  without  first  seeing  that  the  hens  are  served, 
may  fertilize  the  eggs,  but  he  will  not  increase  the 
vigor  of  the  flock.  I  am  always  glad  to  find  in  my 
flock  a  cockerel  that  flies  at  me  and  pecks  my  feet 
when  I  enter  the  pen,  for  a  fighting  disposition  is 
one  of  the  surest  marks  of  a  good  breeder. 

The  male  bird  is  often  said  to  be  half  the  pen. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  he  is  more  than  half.  Both  color 
and  fecundity  are  inherited  from  him.  A  male  bird 
that  is  known  to  be  the  son  of  a  heavy  layer  is  the 
surest  means  of  increasing  egg  production.  Utility 
should  never  be  sacrificed  for  color,  but  it  need  not 
be.  By  selecting  for  breeding  males  the  best  colored 
cockerels  that  are  known  to  be  sons  of  high  produc- 
ers, a  well  colored,  high  producing  flock  can  soon  be 
built  up. 

The  Hens 

Size  and  shape  come  from  the  hens.  This  is  now 
a  well  established  principle  of  breeding.  If  you 
want  a  flock  that  is  up  to  standard  size,  you  must 
breed  from  large  hens.  If  you  want  birds  of  the 


118  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

long-backed,  deep  chested  type,  you  must  select  hens 
of  this  type.  It  is  important  that  the  hens  be  good 
layers,  but  not  so  important  as  that  the  male  bird 
should  be  the  son  of  a  good  layer. 

The  Cockerel  Pen 

Every  up-to-date  poultry  ranch  now  has  its  cock- 
erel pen.  The  very  best  layers  are  chosen  for  this 
pen  and  are  mated  to  a  cockerel  known  to  have  been 
hatched  from  a  good  layer.  The  cockerels  from  this 
pen  are  carefully  banded  and  are  used  to  head  the 
next  season's  breeding  pens.  In  this  way  males 
hatched  from  high  producers  are  always  to  be  had 
for  breeding,  and  the  average  production  of  the  flock 
is  raised  year  after  year. 

Where  only  a  few  fowls  are  kept  the  eggs  from  the 
best  two  or  three  layers  may  be  hatched  by  them- 
selves, and  the  cockerels  from  these  eggs  marked 
for  future  breeders. 

Mating 

Mate  a  cockerel  to  two-year-old  hens,  or  a  two- 
year-old  cock  to  pullets.  The  first  mating  is  consid- 
ered the  best,  but  the  second  will  probably  give  more 
pullets. 

Cockerels  under  ten  months  old  should  not  be  used 
as  breeders,  and  pullets  should  be  used  only  when 
mated  to  old  cocks.  Never  mate  pullet  to  cockerel. 
Neither  pullets  or  cockerels  should  be  mated  under 
ten  months  of  age. 

Matings  of  yearling  cocks  with  yearling  hens  often 
produce  very  good  results,  but  as  a  rule  it  is  better 
not  to  mate  fowls  of  the  same  age. 

The  number  of  females  a  male  can  take  care  of 
depends  largely  upon  the  season.  In  spring  a  cock- 
erel of  the  Mediterranean  breed  can  care  for  from 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  119 

15  to  20  hens,  and  one  of  the  heavy  breeds  for  10  or 
12.  In  the  fall  the  number  of  hens  must  be  consid- 
erably reduced,  say — one  male  to  six  hens  of  the 
heavy  breeds  or  eight  or  ten  of  the  Mediterranean 
breeds. ,  No  absolute  rule  can  be  given,  for  much 
depends  on  the  age  and  vigor  of  the  birds  and  the 
conditions  under  which  they  are  kept. 

Eggs  should  not  be  used  for  hatching  from  a  pen 
till  the  male  has  been  with  the  females  about  two 
weeks. 

Prepotency 

Prepotency  is  the  ability  of  a  cock  bird  to  trans- 
mit his  own  characteristics  to  his  offspring.  The 
prepotency  of  any  given  bird  can  only  be  learned  by 
trial.  Some  birds,  apparently  perfect  as  breeders, 
beget  only  culls.  Other  birds,  which  make  a  far 
poorer  appearance,  prove  the  best  of  breeders. 
When  a  prepotent  breeder  is  found,  never  let  him  go. 
Some  very  successful  breeders  use  two  brothers  in 
the  pen  at  the  first  until  they  learn  which  is  more 
prepotent. 

Breeding  for  Eggs 

In  order  to  breed  for  eggs  we  must  first  find  the 
hen  that  lays  the  eggs.  In  every  flock  there  are 
drones  and  layers.  Merely  to  cull  out  the  drones 
would  be  a  saving  of  many  dollars  each  year  and  a 
corresponding  increase  in  profits,  for  the  drone  eats 
nearly  as  much  as  the  hen  that  pays  her  board,  but 
we  must  do  more  than  get  rid  of  the  drones.  We 
must  pick  out  the  hens  that  are  doing  our  best  laying 
and  use  them  for  the  mothers  of  next  year's  cockerels 
and  pullets. 

Trapnesting  is  the  only  absolutely  certain  way  of 
getting  at  the  laying  hen,  but  the  trapnest  is  not  for 


120  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

everybody.  On  the  big  poultry  farm  it  is  a  neces- 
sity ;  on  the  farm  or  back-lot  it  is  usually  a  nuisance. 
Some  one  must  always  be  on  hand  to  let  out  the 
hens  that  are  on  the  nests  and  to  record  their  num- 
bers, and  this  means  closer  confinement  than  the 
women  of  the  family  are  willing  to  submit  to. 

Marks  of  the  Layer 

1.  The  bred-to-lay  hen  is  a  vigorous  hen.     This 
she  must  be,  whatever  else  she  is  or  is  not.    She  bears 
the  marks  of  vigor  which  have  been  mentioned.  Her 
comb  is  red,  her  manner  alert,  her  eye  bright,  her 
appetite  good.    She  scratches  and  sings  from  morn- 
ing till  night,  and  is  never  seen  loafing  in  a  corner  or 
on  the  roost.    Very  often  she  may  be  known  by  her 
worn-off  toe  nails,  the  result  of  hard  scratching. 

2.  The  bred-to-lay  hen  is  almost  always  of  the 
laying  type,  long  in  the  back,  deep  in  the  chest,  wide 
in  the  fluff,  for  how  can  a  hen  lay  unless  she  has 
room  for  her  egg-laying  organs?    The  body  of  the 
layer  should  be  long,  broad,  deep  and  V-shaped  as 
viewed  from  the  side,  the  small  part  of  the  V  lying 
toward  the  front  of  the  body. 

3.  The  bred-to-lay  hen  is  the  hen  that  commences 
to  lay  early  in  the  fall.     It  has  been  proven  again 
and  again  by  trap-nest  records  that  the  heavy  pro- 
ducers almost  invariably  lay  their  first  egg  in  No- 
vember.   The  pullet  that  does  not  lay  her  first  egg 
till  January  need  not,  unless  she  was  hatched  very 
late,  be  considered. 

4.  The  good  layer  is  usually  the  hen  with  a  comb 
that  is  large  for  her  breed.    Just  what  the  relation 
is  between  laying  powers  and  size  of  comb  we  do  not 
know,  but  there  is  some  relation.     Leghorn  breed- 
ers admit  that  a  great  mistake  has  been  made  in  try- 
ing to  breed  a  small  comb  on  the  Leghorn  hen.    The 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  121 

best    laying   strains    are   those    with   fairly   large 
combs. 

5.  The  best  layer  is  usually  the  hen  that  is  small 
for  her  breed.    Rarely  do  hens  over  standard  weight 
prove  record  layers.     There  are  exceptions  to  this 
rule  of  course,  but  as  a  rule  the  best  layers  in  any 
flock  are  those  that  are  under,  rather  than  over, 
standard  weight. 

6.  The  best  layer  is  almost  always  a  pullet  that 
showed  her  sex  early.    If  you  will  take  the  trouble 
to  band  the  pullets  that  first  show  their  sex,  you  will 
find  most  of  the  best  layers  in  this  bunch. 

When  the  best  pullets  in  the  flock  have  been  picked 
out  by  these  signs,  they  should  be  placed  in  a  pen  by 
themselves  and  the  record  of  the  pen  kept.  If  egg 
production  falls  below  50  per  cent  through  the  win- 
ter there  will  have  to  be  more  culling. 

These  pullets  should  not  be  used  for  breeders  till 
their  second  year.  If  they  must  be  used  in  the  spring 
mate  them  to  a  two-year-old  cock. 

Using  the  Trap-nest 

There  are  many  good  trap-nests  on  the  market, 
and  they  may  be  readily  made  at  home  by  a  handy 
man  or  boy.  The  principle  of  all  is  the  same.  As  she 
enters  the  nest,  the  hen  closes  the  door,  and  is  not 
able  to  get  out  till  some  one  comes  and  notes  the 
number  on  her  band  and  lets  her  out. 

When  the  object  of  trapnesting  is  merely  to  select 
the  best  layers  and  not  to  make  complete  records,  the 
pullets  need  only  be  trapnested  from  November  till 
March.  The  pullets  that  make  the  best  records  these 
four  months,  as  has  been  proved  by  many  experi- 
ment stations,  are  the  best  layers. 

The  ten  or  twelve  pullets  that  make  the  highest 
records,  mated  to  the  best  male  you  can  afford,  will 


122 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 


give  a  good  foundation  for  future  work,  and  the 
best  cockerels  from  this  pen  are  the  sons  of  high 
producers  that  are  needed  to  head  next  year's  breed- 
ing pens.  Breeding  a  good  laying  strain  is  just  a 
matter  of  raising  the  egg  record  a  little  every  year. 

The  average 
production  of  the 
farm  flock  the 
country  over  is 
less  than  100  eggs 
per  year.  It 
should  be  easy,  by 
careful  selection 
and  buying  a  good 
male  of  a  differ- 
ent strain  every 
two  years,  to  add 
new  blood,  to 
raise  the  average 
production  to  120 
eggs. 

Line  Breeding 

Line  breeding 
is  almost  the  ex- 
act opposite  of 
breeding  for 

eggs.  In  breeding  for  egg  production  we  begin 
with  poor  or  mediocre  stock  and  by  careful 
selection  for  vigor  and  laying  qualities  breed  up  a 
heavy  laying  strain.  In  line  breeding  we  begin  with 
the  two  most  perfect  birds  we  can  find,  and  by  proper 
mating  for  type  and  color  establish  a  strain  which 
has  the  characteristics  of  the  original  parents.  We 
may,  now  and  then,  produce  a  more  perfect  bird,  but 
this  we  do  not  expect. 


•••  T 

FIG.    27 FELCH    LINE    BREEDING    CHART 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  123 

Careful  marking  of  each  chick  and  keeping  the 
records  of  each  pen  and  its  offspring  is  absolutely 
necessary  in  line  breeding. 

Director  Quisenberry  of  the  Missouri  Station,  in 
"The  Poultryman's  Guide,"  gives  these  instructions 
for  line  breeding,  which  are  simpler  and  easier  to 
understand  than  the  Felch  chart. 

1912  Mating 

Pen  No.  1 — Ideal  cock  to  ideal  hen.  Result  of  this 
mating  contains  */2  blood  of  original  male  and  V& 
blood  of  original  female. 

1913  Mating s 

Pen  No.  2 — Male  from  No.  1  to  original  female — 
%  original  female  and  %  original  male  blood. 

Pen  No.  3 — Females  from  No.  1  to  original  male — 
%  original  male  and  %  original  female  blood. 

1914  Mating  s 

Pen  No.  4 — Females  from  No.  2  to  males  from  No. 
3 — 1/2  original  male  and  %  original  female. 

Pen  No.  5 — Males  from  No.  2  to  females  from  No. 
3 — 1/2  original  male  and  %  original  female. 

Pen  No.  6 — Males  from  No.  2  to  original  female — 
%  original  female  and  %  original  male. 

Pen  No.  7 — Females  from  No.  3  to  original  male — 
%  original  male  and  Vs  original  female. 

1915  Mating  s 

Pen  No.  8 — Males  from  No.  7  to  females  from  No. 
6 — 1/2  original  male  and  Vs  original  female. 

Pen  No.  9 — Females  from  No.  7  to  males  from  No. 
6 — y%  original  male  and  %  original  female. 

Pen  No.  10 — Males  from  No.  6  to  females  from  No. 
2 — 13-16  original  female  and  3-16  original  male. 

Pen  No.  11 — Males  from  No.  4  or  5  to  females 


124  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

from  No.  6 — 11-16  original  female  and  5-16  original 
male. 

Pen  No.  12 — Females  from  No.  4  or  5  to  males 
from  No.  7 — 11-16  original  male  and  5-16  original 
female. 

Pen  No.  13 — Males  from  No.  7  to  females  from  No. 
3 — 13-16  original  male  and  3-16  original  female. 

1916  Mating s 

Pen  No.  14 — Females  from  No.  8  or  9  to  males 
from  No.  10 — 21-32  original  female  and  11-32  origi- 
nal male. 

Pen  No.  15 — Females  from  No.  8  or  9  to  males 
from  No.  13 — 21-32  original  male  and  11-32  original 
female. 

Pen  No.  16 — Females  from  No.  11  to  males  from 
No.  12 — !/2  original  male  and  Va  original  female. 

Pen  No.  17 — Males  from  No.  11  to  females  from 
No.  12 — %  original  male  and  1/2  original  female. 

Pen  No.  18 — Females  from  No.  10  to  males  from 
No.  12 — 9-16  original  female  and  7-16  original  male. 

Pen  No.  19 — Males  from  No.  13  to  females  from 
No.  11 — 9-16  original  male  and  7-16  original  female. 

Cross  Breeding 

There  is  absolutely  nothing  to  be  gained  by  cross 
breeding,  except  perhaps  in  producing  capons,  and 
everything  to  be  lost.  A  cross  of  a  lightweight 
male  on  heavy  females  is  sometimes  advocated  for 
broilers,  but  it  would  be  hard  to  prove  that  the 
broilers  produced  in  this  way  grow  more  rapidly 
or  are  better  in  any  way  than  a  pure-bred  bird.  In 
many  cases  they  do  not  grow  as  fast.  The  bird 
produced  by  crossing  will  be  larger  than  the  one 
parent  but  smaller  than  the  other. 

At  the  Cornell  Experiment  Station  experiments 
were  tried  in  crossing  White  Leghorns  and  Barred 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  125 

Rocks,  and  it  was  found  that  in  all  cases  the  size 
of  the  offspring  was  between  the  size  of  the  Leghorn 
and  that  of  the  Rock,  but  chickens  produced  by  the 
cross  of  Leghorn  male  on  Rock  female  were  larger 
than  those  produced  by  Rock  male  on  Leghorn 
females.  In  other  words,  size  followed  the  female. 
Professor  Rice  says : 

"We  gained  nothing  in  constitutional  vigor,  egg 
production  or  meat  production  over  the  pure  breeds, 
but  we  did  do  this,  namely,  by  bringing  together  the 
magnificent  pure-bred  varieties,  Single  Comb  White 
Leghorns  and  Barred  Plymouth  Rocks,  which  have 
taken  somebody  from  fifty  to  sixty  years  to  develop 
in  pure  breedness,  we  have  in  one  season  undone  the 
careful  breeding  of  half  a  century." 

A  similar  experiment  of  my  own  in  crossing  a  But- 
tercup male  with  Buff  Orpington  females  had  the 
same  results.  The  offspring  were  larger  than  But- 
tercups but  smaller  than  Orpingtons,  and  their  color 
was  nondescript. 

INBREEDING 

Inbreeding,  that  is  the  mating  together  of  fowls 
too  closely  related,  has  been  blamed  for  nearly  all 
the  troubles  the  poultryman  is  heir  to.  Failure  of 
eggs  to  hatch,  failure  of  chicks  to  grow,  failure  of 
hens  to  lay,  are  all  laid  to  the  door  of  inbreeding. 

It  must  be  kept  clearly  in  mind  by  the  beginner 
that  line  breeding  and  utility  breeding  are  two  dis- 
tinct and  separate  things.  Line  breeding  belongs  to 
the  fancier  and  must  be  left  in  his  hands.  Utility 
breeding  is  the  only  thing  that  concerns  us. 

In  line  breeding  there  must  of  necessity  be  in- 
breeding, though  not  the  mating  together  of  brother 
and  sister,  which  is  the  worst  form  of  inbreeding. 
Daughter  is  mated  back  to  sire,  and  son  to  mother, 


126  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

and  again,  sons  and  daughters  of  these  matings  back 
to  the  original  parents  and  to  each  other.  Fanciers 
claim  that  there  is  no  loss  of  vigor  from  line  breed- 
ing, but  utility  breeders  claim  there  is. 

Whichever  of  these  views  be  right,  and  I  daresay 
they  are  both  right  sometimes,  it  is  much  safer  for 
the  beginner  to  purchase,  at  least  every  two  years,  a 
male  bird  of  different  strain  from  his  own,  sending 
East  for  him,  if  necessary.  If  he  prefers  to  use  his 
own  males,  he  can  buy  eggs  from  some  good  breeder 
instead  of  a  male  bird  and  mate  his  best  male  to  the 
pullets  from  these  eggs.  In  buying  a  male  bird  it  is, 
of  course,  necessary  to  make  sure  that  he  is  the  son 
of  a  high  producer,  or  the  egg  production  of  the 
whole  flock  may  be  injured. 

DETERMINING  SEX 

To  what  extent  the  character  of  the  mating  deter- 
mines sex  is  a  question  that  has  not  been  settled  and 
probably  never  will  be.  One  thing  seems  quite  cer- 
tain, namely,  that  the  mating  of  an  old  cock  to  25  or 
30  pullets  is  a  good  way  to  secure  a  preponderance  of 
pullets  in  the  progeny.  By  mating  a  cockerel  to 
from  5  to  10  old  hens  you  will  secure  mostly  cock- 
erels. This  is  the  finding  of  the  Missiouri  Station, 
and  it  corresponds  with  the  experience  of  most  poul- 
trymen. 

In  general  we  may  expect  in  hatching  to  have 
about  an  equal  number  of  pullets  and  cockerels. 
Some  have  held  that  where  the  breeding  pen  is  well 
fed  and  the  fowls  are  contented  and  happy,  condi- 
tions are  right  for  producing  females,  but  this  seems 
to  be  mostly  theory,  as  is  the  other  opinion  that  more 
pullets  are  hatched  in  warm  weather.  The  fact  is 
we  know  very  little,  and  it  is  not  worth  while  pre- 
tending wisdom. 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  127 

CARE  AND  FEEDING  OF  BREEDERS      ' 

Hens  used  for  breeding  should  be  hens  in  their  sec- 
ond season — or  even  older, — which  have  passed 
through  the  molt  well.  Sometimes  the  molt  brings 
out  virtues  or  defects  which  have  escaped  detection 
in  the  pullet  year.  As  a  rule,  the  best  layers  molt 
late.  Watch,  then  for  the  biddy  that  lays  on  into 
September  or  October  before  she  begins  to  drop  her 
feathers.  She  may  be  the  best  layer  you  have. 

From  the  time  the  hens  selected  as  breeders  begin 
to  molt,  which  will  usually  be  by  the  first  of  August, 
their  treatment  should  be  different  from  that  of  the 
hens  kept  as  layers.  Molting  fowls  ought  to  have 
range,  with  plenty  of  shade,  but  the  breeders  must 
have  these  pleasant  surroundings  if  they  are  to  pro- 
duce hatchable  eggs  and  strong  chicks.  Put  all  males 
by  themselves  at  the  beginning  of  the  molt,  in  shady, 
comfortable  coops,  and  give  the  hens  the  widest 
possible  range.  An  orchard  is  a  fine  place  for  them, 
and  a  corn  field  is  nearly  as  good. 

If  they  are  of  the  heavy  breeds  some  of  the  hens 
are  sure  to  be  overf at  after  the  rich  laying  ration  of 
the  winter.  These  should  be  put  in  a  pen  by  them- 
selves and  their  ration  reduced  till  their  surplus  fat 
is  gone.  A  fat  hen  is  in  no  condition  for  making 
feathers. 

Feeding  Breeders 

During  the  breeding  season  the  breeders  should 
not  have  the  forcing  ration  which  is  fed  to  layers. 
What  we  want  from  them  is  not  quantity,  but  .qual- 
ity. They  require  more  hard  grain,  especially  wheat 
and  oats.  Oats  especially  are  considered  conducive 
to  fertility.  Some  poultrymen  add  rolled  oats  to  the 
mash,  others  feed  an  extra  amount  of  sprouted  oats. 

An  abundance  of  meat  and  greens  is  a  necessity  to 


128  POULTRY   FOR   PROFIT 

the  production  of  fertile  eggs.    It  pays  to  buy  pluck 
or  green  bone  once  or  twice  a  week  for  breeders. 

Exercise 

If  exercise  is  important  for  la>  ers,  it  is  doubly  im- 
portant for  breeders,  for  they  must  lay  not  only 
eggs,  but  fertile  eggs.  If  the  fowls  cannot  have 
range,  give  them  deep  litter  to  scratch  in  and  make 
them  scratch  or  go  hungry. 

Vigorous  breeders,  properly  cared  for,  mean  fewer 
chicks  dead  in  the  shell,  fewer  runts,  less  sickness 
among  young  and  old  stock,  more  eggs,  quicker 
growth,  earlier  maturity,  more  profit  all  along  the 
line.  If  things  go  wrong  look  first  to  the  condition 
of  your  breeding  stock. 

OLD  HENS  AS  LAYERS 

Pullets  for  layers,  old  hens  for  breeders,  is  the  rule 
adopted  by  most  poultrymen,  but  there  are  many 
exceptions.  Undoubtedly  most  hens  lay  more  eggs  in 
their  pullet  year  than  they  do  the  second,  but  when 
the  cost  of  raising  pullets  is  considered,  it  is  cheaper 
to  use  a  hen  two  years  as  a  layer  than  to  raise  a  pul- 
let to  take  her  place.  Many  hens  are  still  worth 
keeping  in  their  third  year.  Of  this  the  owner  must 
be  the  judge.  Assuming  that  it  costs  $1.50  per  year 
to  feed  a  laying  hen  and  that  she  must  bring  in  a 
profit  of  $1.00,  she  will  need  to  lay  about  100  eggs  or 
eight  dozen  at  thirty  cents  per  dozen.  Most  of  the 
hens  kept  by  farmers  lay  less  than  100  eggs  in  their 
pullet  year,  it  is  said.  If  this  is  true,  the  necessity  of 
closer  culling  and  better  breeding  is  apparent. 

On  commercial  poultry  plants,  where  the  stock 
has  been  carefully  bred  for  egg  production,  many 
hens  are  found  that  will  net  a  dollar  profit  or  even 
more  in  their  third  year.  At  Cornell  records  of  the 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  129 

four  highest  producing  hens  for  three  years  showed 
surprising  results.    They  were  as  follows : 

1st  year  2nd  year  3rd  year 

Lady  Cornell 257  200  191 

Madam  Cornell 245  131  163 

Cornell  Surprise 180  186  196 

Cornell  Supreme 242  198  220 

Three  of  these  hens,  it  will  be  observed,  actually 
laid  more  eggs  in  the  third  year  than  in  the  second, 
and  one,  Cornell  Surprise,  laid  more  in  the  third  year 
than  in  either  the  first  or  second.  In  the  case  of 
Lady  Cornell,  the  only  one  in  which  there  is  a 
steady  decrease  from  the  first  to  the  third  year,  the 
decrease  is  so  light  that  the  hen  may  be  assumed  to 
have  been  a  profitable  producer  for  two  years  more. 
Undoubtedly  the  advisability  of  keeping  any  hen 
after  the  second  year  must  depend  upon  the  hen  her- 
self, and  the  trap-nest  is  the  only  sure  guide  to  a 
knowledge  of  her  real  worth. 

THE  FALL  EGG  PROBLEM 

The  secret  of  success  with  poultry  is  very  largely 
the  secret  of  getting  eggs  when  eggs  are  dear,  that 
is,  in  the  fall.  Producing  eggs  in  the  spring  when 
every  hen  is  laying  requires  neither  skill  nor  knowl- 
edge, nor  does  it  go  far  toward  paying  the  feed  bills 
for  the  rest  of  the  year.  The  fall  egg  is  the  ultimate 
end  and  aim  of  all  poultry  keeping,  the  center  about 
which  all  plans  and  schemes  revolve. 

Every  spring  matings  are  planned  with  the  design 
of  somehow  catching  that  will  o'  the  wisp.  Every 
fall  hears  the  same  complaint,  "Hens  won't  lay. 
What  is  the  matter?" 

Instead  of  asking  "Why  won't  they  lay?"  it  might 
be  well  to  ask,  "Why  should  they  lay?"  The  jungle 
fowl  never  thought  of  laying  in  the  fall.  It  was 


130  POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT 

enough  for  her  to  lay  a  couple  of  dozen  eggs  in  the 
spring.  This  gave  her  as  large  a  family  as  she 
wished  to  raise.  Why  should  she  worry  about  more? 

It  is  a  far  cry  from  the  jungle  fowl  of  the  dim  and 
misty  past  to  the  domestic  hen  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury with  her  record  of  300  eggs  a  year,  and  yet  one 
little  word  bridges  over  the  whole  of  the  distance, 
just  one  word,  "breeding."  The  twentieth  century 
hen  lays  from  200  to  300  eggs  a  year  because  she 
has  been  bred  to  lay.  Feeding  and  care  have  gone 
hand  in  hand  with  breeding,  but  they  would  have 
counted  but  little  except  for  the  selection,  year  after 
year,  decade  after  decade,  of  the  best  fowls.  Per- 
haps the  selection  has  not  always  been  very  intel- 
ligent. Very  likely  it  has  been  in  many  cases  the 
survival  of  the  fittest.  Nevertheless,  somehow  or 
other  the  domesticated,  laying  hen,  with  her  more 
or  less  high  production,  has  been  evolved  out  of  that 
insignificant  ancestor.  What  has  been  done  can  be 
done  again,  and  it  will  be  more  effectively  accom- 
plished because  of  some  things  we  understand  now 
which  were  not  understood  even  20  years  ago. 

Fall  laying,  it  must  always  be  remembered,  is 
contrary  to  nature.  Spring  is  the  natural  mating 
season  for  birds  and  animals.  Mother  Nature  her- 
self is  back  of  it  all,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  change  the 
nature  of  things. 

Egg-laying  is  reproduction,  nothing  more,  and  it 
is  said  that  the  pullets  and  cockerels  which  are  most 
strongly  sexed — that  is,  that  show  their  sex  earliest 
— are  the  pullet  which  can  most  easily  be  induced 
to  lay  out  of  the  natural  reproductive  season,  and 
the  cockerel  which  will  transmit  this  quality  from 
mother  to  granddaughter.  The  question  is  an  in- 
tricate and  interesting  one  and  worthy  of  the  most 
careful  attention  of  scientists  and  breeders. 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  131 

This  much  we  know,  however,  that  there  are  ways 
of  increasing  fall  egg  production  and  that  the  first 
of  these  is  breeding  for  eggs.  It  is  possible  by  se- 
lecting year  after  year  the  hens  that  as  pullets  laid 
well  in  the  fall  and  the  males  that  are  known  to  be 
sons  of  high  producers,  and  breeding  from  them,  to 
produce  a  race  of  hens  that  will  lay  in  the  fall.  This 
has  been  done  in  many  cases.  It  is  done  systemati- 
cally on  all  commercial  egg  farms.  It  will  be  done 
more  and  more  by  amateurs  as  the  principle  becomes 
more  widely  understood.  Perhaps  the  time  will 
come  when  all  hens  will  lay  in  the  fall  as  they  now 
lay  in  the  spring.  Then  there  will  be  no  more  high 
prices  for  fall  eggs,  and  we  shall  all  be  trying  to 
change  nature  again. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Marketing 

HANDLING  EGGS 

Making  the  hens  lay  is  only  half  the  battle  for 
poultry  profits.  Getting  the  eggs  to  market  in  proper 
condition  is  just  as  important.  Investigations  by  the 
United  States  Department  of  Agriculture  show  that 
nearly  17  per  cent  of  all  eggs  shipped  to  wholesale 
markets  are  a  total  loss  because  they  are  unfit  for 
use.  In  Missouri  alone  it  is  estimated  that  careless- 
ness in  handling  eggs  costs  the  farmers  of  the  state 
a  million  dollars  a  year.  Think  what  a  tremendous 
loss  this  means  the  country  over! 

These  losses,  according  to  the  department,  are  di- 
vided as  follows : 

Dirty  eggs 2     per  cent 

Broken  eggs 2     per  cent 

Chick  development 5     per  cent 

Shrunken,  due  to  holding 5      per  cent 

Rotten 2y%  per  cent 

Mouldy  or  stale V£  Per  cent 

17     per  cent 

It  is  further  estimated  that  these  losses  would  be 
wholly  or  nearly  eliminated  by  better  management 
at  the  point  of  production,  by  more  careful  grading, 
and  by  more  systematic  methods  of  marketing. 

Better  management  on  the  part  of  the  producer 
means  eggs  that  are  (1)  fresh,  (2)  clean,  (3)  infer- 
tile, (4)  of  good  size  and  all  the  same  size,  (5)  of  uni- 
form shape  and  color,  (6)  well  packed.  The  follow- 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  133 

ing  rules  may  well  be  observed  by  every  one  who 
raises  eggs  for  market : 

Rules  for  the  Producer 

1.  Keep  all  male  birds  out  of  the  laying  pens. 
Infertile  eggs  can  be  had  in  no  other  way,  and  infer- 
tile eggs  do  not  spoil. 

2.  See  that  nests  are  clean  and  the  litter  fre- 
quently renewed. 

3.  Gather  eggs  twice  a  day  and  keep  in  a  cool, 
well  ventilated  place. 

4.  Market  all  eggs  at  least  twice  a  week. 

5.  Grade  well  for  size  and  color. 

6.  Market  pullets'  eggs  separately  or  use  them  at 
home. 

7.  See  that  all  eggs  weigh  at  least  22  ounces  to  the 
dozen.    "Extras'  should  average  24  ounces. 

8.  Never  wash  eggs.    Wipe  with  a  damp  cloth  if 
necessary. 

"Extras"  in  the  San  Francisco  market  must  be  all 
white,  perfectly  fresh,  reasonably  clean,  must  weigh 
at  least  22  ounces  to  the  dozen  and  average  24 
ounces.  In  Los  Angeles  there  is  no  distinction  as  to 
color. 

An  infertile  egg  never  rots,  but  it  does  become 
stale  and  shrunken  after  a  time,  hence  the  necessity 
of  marketing  often.  An  egg  is  not  "strictly  fresh"  if 
it  is  over  two  days  old.  In  fertile  eggs  in  warm 
weather  the  germ  often  begins  to  develop  in  a  few 
hours,  hence  the  extreme  importance  of  marketing 
only  infertile  eggs. 

Selling  Eggs 

Eggs  may  be  sold  (1)  direct  to  the  consumer, 
(2)  direct  to  the  retailer,  (3)  to  commission  mer- 
chants, (4)  to  the  local  poultry  dealer  or  the  wagon 


134  POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT 

which  goes  through  the  country  picking  up  eggs  and 
poultry.  The  first  method  is  the  most  profitable. 
Large  poultrymen  who  can  contract  for  a  given  num- 
ber of  dozen  each  week  are  often  able  to  sell  very 
profitably  to  hotels  and  restaurants.  Smaller  pro- 
ducers sometimes  find  good  customers  in  the  soda 
water  fountains,  but  a  good  private  trade  is  the 
best.  There  are  many  well-to-do  people  in  all  large 
cities  who  are  willing  to  pay  the  highest  market  price 
the  year  round  for  eggs  of  guaranteed  quality.  A 
few  will  pay  a  little  over  the  market  price,  but  this 
cannot  be  counted  on. 

Sometimes  selling  direct  to  the  retailer  is  as  profit- 
able as  selling  direct  to  private  customers,  but  most 
retailers  want  too  large  a  profit.  The  country  grocer 
pays  from  five  to  ten  cents  a  dozen  under  the  market 
price.  Some  city  groceries,  which  have  particular 
customers,  will  take  guaranteed  eggs  at  two  or  three 
cents  under  the  retail  price.  The  producer  who 
makes  a  point  of  quality  can  usually  find  some  re- 
tailer who  will  do  the  square  thing. 

Now  that  parcel  post  is  no  longer  an  experiment, 
it  is  possible  for  the  small  producer  in  many  cases  to 
work  up  a  family  trade  in  eggs  and  dressed  poultry, 
and  such  a  trade,  if  goods  are  first  class  and  attrac- 
tively packed,  should  pay  well. 

Packing  Eggs 

Eggs  shipped  to  commission  men  or  the  city  grocer 
are  packed  in  cases  holding  thirty  dozen,  and  should 
be  very  carefully  graded  as  to  size  and  color.  If  you 
do  not  grade  them  yourself  you  will  have  to  pay  some 
one  else  to  do  it. 

The  postoffice  department  requires  that  eggs  sent 
by  parcel  post  be  first  wrapped  separately  in  excel- 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  135 

sior,  cotton  or  paper,  and  then  packed  in  one  of  the 
containers  manufactured  for  the  purpose. 

For  eggs  delivered  by  hand  there  are  neat  car- 
tons which  may  be  had  for  about  a  cent  apiece. 

Improving  Eggs 

When  a  poultryman  finds  that  a  large  number  of 
his  eggs  do  not  grade  as  "extras,"  there  is  just  one 
thing  to  do,  that  is,  improve  the  quality.  If  the  eggs 
selected  for  hatching  are  all  eggs  that  will  weigh  at 
least  22  ounces  to  the  dozen,  all  the  same  size  and 
color,  and  all  with  good,  strong,  smooth  shells,  the 
eggs  of  next  year's  pullets  will  be  of  more  uniform 
quality  and  better  size.  Never  set  an  egg  that  is  not 
up  to  the  standard.  Hens  that  persistently  lay  thin- 
shelled,  badly  shaped  eggs,  should  be  eliminated 
from  the  flock. 

PRESERVING  EGGS 

The  best  method  of  preserving  eggs,  and  the  one 
now  recommended  by  all  experiment  stations,  is 
what  is  called  the  water  glass  method.  Eggs  pre- 
served in  a  water  glass  solution  will  keep  almost  per- 
fectly for  several  months.  The  taste  is  a  trifle  flat 
as  compared  with  that  of  a  fresh  egg,  but  they  are 
wholesome  and  sweet  and  will  poach  nearly  as  well 
as  a  fresh  egg. 

Water-glass  (sodium  silicate)  may  be  bought  from 
any  druggist  for  twenty-five  or  thirty  cents  a  quart, 
and  a  quart  will  preserve  twenty  dozen  eggs.  Boil 
ten  or  twelve  quarts  of  water  and  let  it  cool.  Then 
add  a  quart  of  water-glass  and  mix  thoroughly.  The 
mixture  should  be  kept  in  a  stone  jar  in  a  cellar  or 
other  cool  place,  and  the  eggs  placed  in  it  each  day 
as  soon  as  they  are  brought  from  the  nest.  Do  not 


136  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

put  in  dirty  eggs  nor  eggs  that  have  been  washed. 
The  liquid  should  cover  every  egg  completely. 

When  eggs  that  have  been  in  a  water-glass  solu- 
tion are  to  be  boiled,  pricking  a  hole  with  a  pin  in  the 
large  end  of  the  egg  will  keep  it  from  cracking. 

By  this  method  eggs  may  be  stored  at  a  very 
trifling  expense  in  the  spring  when  they  are  cheap 
and  kept  for  family  use  in  the  fall  when  prices  are 
high  and  fresh  eggs  are  too  valuable  to  use  at  home. 

MARKET  POULTRY 

Market  poultry  may  be  classified  as  (1)  broilers, 
(2)  fryers,  (3)  roasters,  (4)  hens,  (5)  capons. 
Broilers  weigh  from  one  and  one-half  to  two  pounds. 
Fryers  weigh  from  two  to  four  pounds.  Roasters  are 
young  birds  weighing  from  four  to  six  pounds. 
Roosters  that  have  their  spurs  are  no  longer  roasters. 

Broilers  and  Fryers 

Chicks  intended  for  broilers  should  be  hatched  in 
the  fall  or  early  winter.  September  is  an  excellent 
month  for  getting  out  broilers  for  the  Christmas 
market.  Broilers  hatched  between  the  first  of  Sep- 
tember and  the  last  of  January  always  bring  a  good 
price  for  the  demand  is  sure  to  exceed  the  supply. 
Many  poultrymen  hatch  for  this  special  broiler  mar- 
ket in  the  fall  when  their  incubators  and  brooders 
would  otherwise  be  idle.  These  chicks  are  fed  a 
special  ration  after  the  first  three  weeks  and  are 
marketed  as  soon  as  they  weigh  two  pounds  unless 
they  are  intended  for  fryers,  when  they  should  weigh 
from  two  to  three  pounds. 

The  surplus  cockerels  from  the  spring  hatches  are 
not  as  profitable  as  these  winter  broilers,  but  if  they 
are  separated  from  the  pullets  as  soon  as  they  show 
their  sex,  confined  quite  closely  and  fed  a  fattening 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  137 

ration,  they  can  usually  be  counted  on  to  pay  for 
their  raising  and  something  more. 

The  ration  fed  to  the  cockerels  intended  for  mar- 
ket may  contain  a  good  deal  more  soft  food  than  that 
of  the  pullets.  A  moist  mash  twice  a  day  from  the 
first  month  on,  with  cracked  corn  at  noon,  will  keep 
them  growing  and  bring  them  to  marketable  age  at 
eight  or  nine  weeks  in  the  case  of  the  heavy  breeds, 
and  about  twelve  weeks  for  light  breeds. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  market  quotations 
in  early  spring  are  higher  for  broilers  than  for  fry- 
ers, my  experience  is  that  it  is  hard  to  get  a  good 
price  for  birds  under  two  pounds  weight,  and  from 
two  to  three  pounds  is  really  the  most  profitable 
weight  to  sell  them.  Outside  of  hotels  and  restau- 
rants, few  people  care  for  a  bird  that  weighs  less 
than  two  pounds,  and  the  hotel  and  restaurant  trade 
is  only  for  the  poultrymen  who  make  a  specialty  of 
broilers  and  can  agree  to  deliver  a  certain  number 
every  week.  Two-pound  birds  in  early  spring  will 
bring  from  thirty  to  thirty-five  cents  a  pound,  live 
weight,  perhaps  a  little  more  at  times,  and  this  is  the 
most  profitable  time  to  sell  them.  Additional  weight 
that  might  be  added  by  holding  them  would  not  make 
up  for  the  probable  drop  in  price,  to  say  nothing  of 
the  feed  consumed. 

Fattening  Cockerels 

When  the  young  cockerels  have  nearly  reached  the 
desired  weight  they  are  much  improved  by  being 
placed  in  crates  which  hold  six  or  seven  birds  each. 

Bulletin  10  of  Purdue  University  Experiment  Sta- 
tion gives  these  directions  for  crate  fattening: 

"A  crate  should  be  built  in  as  cool  and  quiet  a  spot 
as  possible,  and  divided  into  compartments  capable 
of  holding  six  or  seven  fowls.  These  divisions  can  be 


138 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 


made  35  inches  long,  24  inches  deep  and  16  inches 
high.  Slats  make  the  best  front  and  can  also  be 
used  for  sides  and  top.  The  bottom  should  be  made 
of  half -inch  hardware  cloth  wire  to  allow  the  drop- 
pings to  pass  through,  thus  insuring  sanitation  and 
clean  feet.  Under  the  wire  bottom  should  be  placed  a 
metal  pan  to  catch  the  droppings.  This  can  be  re- 
moved when  necessary  and  easily  cleaned. 

"Only  birds  with  good  vitality  and  apparently  good 
vigor  should  be  used,  for  the  feeding  capacity  of  the 
fowl  has  much  to  do  with  the  gain  in  weight.  When 
the  birds  have  been  selected  and  placed  in  groups 
in  the  coops,  they  should  be  starved  for  24  hours  in 
order  to  clean  out  the  intestines  and  make  them  hun- 
gry for  the  fattening  ration.  This  is  fed  in  a  trough 
placed  outside  the  crate  in  front  of  the  birds.  The 
birds  should  appear  ravenous  and  eat  greedily.  If 


FIGS.  28  AND  29 FEED  HOP- 
PER. UPPER  WITH  TOP 
REMOVED  TO  PUT  IN  FEED 


they  do  not,  there  is  something  wrong  with  them,  and 
they  should  be  removed  from  the  coop.  When  the 
birds  have  eaten  greedily  for  thirty  minutes  the 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  139 

trough  should  be  taken  away,  thoroughly  cleaned  and 
allowed  to  dry. 

"Water  is  not  necessary  except  in  hot  weather.  It 
is  advisable  to  feed  grit  every  few  days.  Two  weeks 
is  a  good  average  length  of  time  to  feed. 

"The  greatest  gain  should  be  made  during  the  first 
week,  but  it  is  profitable  in  most  cases  to  continue  for 
another  week.  A  three  to  four-pound  cockerel  should 
make  a  gain  of  at  least  one  pound  in  the  two  weeks 
at  a  cost  of  not  over  seven  cents  for  feed." 

A  good  fattening  ration  consists  of  2  Ibs.  corn 
meal;  1  Ib.  shorts;  1  Ib.  ground  oats;  8  Ibs.  butter- 
milk. 

Roasters 

Birds  intended  for  roasters  are  hatched  in  the  fall, 
preferably  in  September,  and  marketed  anywhere 
from  the  last  of  January  till  the  middle  of  March, 
when  they  bring  twenty-five  to  thirty  cents  a  pound, 
live  weight.  When  one  has  plenty  of  room  and  the 
right  kind  of  birds  roasters  may  be  handled  in  this 
way  very  profitably  as  a  side  line.  The  pullets  make 
excellent  spring  and  summer  layers. 

Whatever  the  age  of  the  bird  it  is  always  best  to 
confine  it  for  a  couple  of  weeks  before  killing  and 
feed  a  fattening  ration.  The  birds  will  weigh  more 
and  command  a  better  price. 

The  most  profitable  way  to  market  poultry,  except 
where  private  customers  can  be  found  for  dressed 
birds,  is  alive.  Fattening  and  killing  requires  special 
equipment  which  the  poultryman  as  a  rule  does  not 
possess.  Dressed  poultry  is  also  very  perishable 
and  it  is  difficult  to  find  a  market  save  in  a  small 
way. 

KILLING  AND  DRESSING 
Fowls  that  are  dressed  for  market,  whether  public 


140  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

or  private,  should  make  as  presentable  an  appearance 
as  possible,  and  for  this  three  things  must  be  ob- 
served : 

1.  The  fowl  must  bleed  thoroughly.     Failure  to 
do  this  leaves  discolorations  on  the  skin. 

2.  The  head  must  be  left  on.    There  are  excep- 
tions to  this  rule.    Private  customers  do  not  care  to 
see  the  head,  and  broilers  are  marketed  without  it, 
but  in  general,  the  public  prefers  to  see  the  head,  and 
so  the  head  is  left  on. 

3.  The  skin  must  be  unbroken. 

4.  The  fowl  must  be  plump  and  appetizing. 

In  order  to  satisfy  the  first  two  conditions,  the 
fowl  must  be  bled  without  removing  the  head,  and 
the  only  way  to  accomplish  this  is  to  kill  by  the 
method  called  "sticking."  First,  hang  up  the  bird  by 
the  legs,  then,  according  to  directions  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture,  "grasp  it  by  the  bony  part  of 
the  skull.  Do  not  let  the  fingers  touch  the  neck. 
Make  a  small  cut  with  a  small,  sharp-pointed  knife 
on  the  right  side  of  the  roof  of  the  mouth,  just  where 
the  bone  of  the  skull  ends.  Brain  for  dry  picking 
by  thrusting  the  knife  through  the  groove  which 
runs  along  the  middle  line  of  the  mouth  until  it 
touches  the  skull  midway  between  the  eyes.  Use  a 
knife  which  is  not  more  than  two  inches  long  and 
one-fourth  inch  wide,  with  a  thin,  flat  handle,  a  sharp 
point  and  a  thin  cutting  edge." 

If  it  is  properly  "stuck"  the  bird  will  bleed  freely. 
Now  hang  a  blood  can  on  the  fleshy  part  of  the  lower 
mandible  and  "dry-pick."  The  skin  will  be  smoother 
and  whiter  if  the  fowl  is  dry-picked  instead  of 
scalded,  and  if  the  feathers  are  pulled  in  the  direc- 
tion in  which  they  grow,  they  can  be  easily  and 
quickly  removed  without  danger  of  breaking  the 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  141 

skin.    An  experienced  picker  can  dry-pick  a  bird  in 
less  than  a  minute. 

CAPONS 

Very  little  has  been  done  on  this  coast  with  capons, 
but  a  wave  of  new  interest  is  spreading  over  the  Mid- 
dle West,  and  it  is  bound  to  reach  California  sooner 
or  later.  The  arguments  pro  and  con  are:  The 
capons  are  made  from  late  hatched  cockerels  which 
would  bring  a  very  low  price  as  broilers  or  fryers. 
Unsexed  and  allowed  to  grow  till  February  or  March 
they  easily  reach  ten  pounds  in  weight  and  bring 
from  twenty-five  to  twenty-eight  cents  a  pound.  On 
the  other  hand,  six  months  is  a  good  while  to  feed  a 
bird,  even  though  you  make  a  profit  of  a  dollar  on 
him,  and  he  takes  up  room  which  is  needed  by  the 
growing  pullets.  These  objections  are  trifling.  The 
more  serious  one  and  the  one  which  probably  deters 
many  persons  from  trying  the  experiment  is  that 
capons  cannot  be  made  from  Leghorns  or  any  other 
of  the  light  breeds.  The  best  capon  is  made  from  a  v 
Brahma  or  from  a  cross  of  a  Dorking  or  Rock  male 
on  a  Brahma  female.  Orpingtons,  Rocks  and  Wyan- 
dottes  make  good  capons,  but  they  do  not  reach  the 
size  that  a  Brahma  capon  does.  In  other  words,  in 
order  to  make  a  success  of  caponizing  it  seems  to  be 
necessary  to  keep  a  special  breed  for  this  special 
purpose.  The  capon  is  not,  except  in  a  few  instances, 
a  by-product  of  egg  production,  as  broilers  and  fry- 
ers are.  Still,  the  Missouri  Station  says  they  are  the 
most  profitable  of  all  market  poultry,  and  the  man- 
ager of  a  large  Los  Angeles  commission  house,  whose 
opinion  I  asked,  held,  that  considering  the  cheapness 
of  eggs  from  which  June  chicks  are  hatched,  capons 
should  be  more  profitable  than  early  broilers. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Sanitation  and  Hygiene 

PREVENTING  DISEASES 

A  vigorous  flock  of  prolific  fowls  is  an  impossiblity 
without  sanitary  surroundings  and  intelligent  feed- 
ing. Take  the  finest,  hardiest  pen  of  fowls  you  can 
buy,  house  them  in  an  unventilated  coop,  allow  filth  to 
accumulate  on  the  floors  and  mites  to  breed  among 
the  filth,  neglect  to  spade  or  to  plant  the  runs,  and 
in  a  very  short  time  your  vigorous,  red-combed 
birds  become  roupy,  worthless  stuff.  Up-to-date 
poultrymen  understand  this  so  well  that  the  modern 
poultry  plant  is  almost  as  clean  as  my  lady's  kitchen. 

Roup  is  the  most  common  result  of  contaminated 
air.  Scaly  leg  arises  directly  from  filthy  runs  and 
yards.  Chicken  pox  is  passed  on  from  generation  to 
generation  in  houses  where  disinfectants  are  never 
used.  Dirty  drinking  water  is  the  source  of 
diarrhea  and  other  intestinal  troubles.  Moldy 
scratching  litter  causes  a  disease  of  the  lungs  and  air 
passages  which  is  as  hard  to  cure  as  roup.  Foul 
soil  breeds  the  pestilent  gape  worm,  and  who  can 
catalogue  the  trouble  and  loss  that  follow  when  filthy 
houses  and  coops  once  become  infested  with  mites  ? 

Cleanliness  is  the  first  essential  in  the  care  of 
fowls,  and  in  order  to  attain  perfect  sanitary  condi- 
tions there  must  be,  as  the  Maine  Station  has  tersely 
put  it : 

1.  Clean  Houses. 

2.  Clean  Air. 

3.  Clean  Food. 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  143 

4.  Clean  Water. 

5.  Clean  Yards  and  Clean  Range. 

6.  Clean  Incubators  and  Brooders. 

7.  Clean  Birds,  Outside  and  Inside. 

The  Clean  House 

A  clean  poultry  house  will  have  (1)  a  clean  floor, 
(2)  clean  walls  and  nests,  (3)  movable  roosts  and 
fixtures. 

A  Clean  Floor 

The  cleanest  floor  is  a  cement  floor.  Swept  daily 
and  washed  clean  with  the  hose  once  a  week,  it  gives 
no  chance  for  mites  to  breed.  When  a  cement  floor 
cannot  be  had,  a  board  floor  is  next  best.  It  has 
cracks,  to  be  sure,  where  mites  may  hide,  but  they 
will  not  if  it  is  kept  clean.  A  dirt  floor  is  the  least 
sanitary,  and  only  by  removing  the  droppings  every 
day  or  two  can  it  be  kept  clean. 

Objection  is  sometimes  made  to  cement  floors  on 
the  ground  that  the  fowls'  toe  nails  are  broken  or 
worn  by  scratching  on  them,  but  the  use  of  a  little 
dirt  or  sand,  with  six  or  eight  inches  of  straw  above 
should  save  the  fowls'  feet. 

Movable  Fixtures 

Mites  always  breed  under  something.  No  use  look- 
ing for  them  anywhere  else  in  the  day  time.  At  night 
you  will  find  them  on  the  hens.  The  sanitary  house 
or  coop  must  have  no  place  that  cannot  be  reached 
and  cleansed  or  disinfected.  Under  the  ends  of  the 
roosts,  under  the  droppings  on  the  floor  or  the  drop- 
pings-board, under  the  litter  in  the  nests,  in  every 
crack  and  crevice,  these  pests  may  be  found  in  a 
mite-infested  house;  hence  the  extreme  importance 


144  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

of  being  able  to  move  everything  and  cleanse  under- 
neath. 

Droppings-boards  are  a  great  help  in  keeping  a 
house  sanitary.  They  too  should  be  movable  and 
should  be  cleaned  very  often. 

The  Garden  Hose 

No  weapon  is  more  effective  in  the  war  against 
mites  than  the  common  garden  hose.  A  house  hosed 
well  once  a  week,  walls,  ceiling,  roosts  and  nest  boxes, 
is  likely  to  be  free  from  mites.  If  the  hosing  is  fol- 
lowed twice  a  month  by  painting  roosts,  nests,  and 
the  walls  next  to  the  roosts  with  kerosene  and  crude 
carbolic  acid  (1  part  acid  to  3  or  4  of  kerosene) 
there  will  be  little  trouble  from  mites  or  other 
vermin. 

In  a  large  house  where  the  hose  cannot  be  con- 
veniently used,  it  is  necessary  to  spray  once  a  month 
in  cold  weather  and  at  least  twice  a  month  in  warm 
weather,  but  on  a  small  place  the  hose  is  cheaper 
and  more  easily  used  and  just  as  effective. 

Summer  Quarters 

Here  is  a  little  secret  of  my  own,  and  I  have  not 
been  bothered  by  mites  since  I  discovered  it.  When 
hot  weather  comes,  get  your  hens  out  of  the  main 
house  into  temporary  quarters.  On  the  farm  this  is 
easy,  for  it  is  only  necessary  to  build  a  burlap-cov- 
ered shed  in  the  orchard  or  stubble  field.  On  a  back 
lot  it  is  not  so  easy,  but  it  can  often  be  done.  When 
the  birds  are  out  of  the  houses  during  the  mites' 
breeding  time,  the  mites  do  not  breed  there,  and  a 
good  painting  with  lice  killer  when  the  fowls  return 
in  the  fall  will  keep  them  out  for  a  good  while.  Even 
when  the  fowls  cannot  be  removed  from  all  the 
houses,  if  they  have  been  properly  culled  in  June, 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  145 

they  can  be  bunched  together  in  the  shadiest  runs, 
and  part  of  the  houses  left  vacant. 

Nest  Material 

Clean  nest  material  is  of  vital  importance  in  the 
production  of  clean  eggs  as  well  as  in  the  elimination 
of  mites.  Shavings  and  excelsior  are  preferred  to 
straw,  because  they  do  not  so  readily  harbor  mites. 
Tobacco  stems  in  the  nests  will  keep  both  lice  and 
mites  from  breeding  there,  and  there  are  various 
medicated  nest  eggs  on  the  market  which  are  said 
to  do  the  same  thing. 

Ventilation 

Since  fowls  cast  off  the  waste  moisture  of  the  body, 
not  through  the  skin  and  kidneys,  as  we  do,  but 
through  the  lungs  and  air  passages,  it  is  easy  to  see 
that  ventilation  is  of  vital  importance.  Not  only 
should  the  poultry  house  be  an  open  front  house,  but 
it  should  have  circulation  of  air,  that  all  impurities 
may  be  carried  off  and  a  supply  of  oxygen  provided. 

Circulation  of  air  is  also  important  as  a  preventive 
of  dampness,  which  is  a  more  deadly  foe  to  the  health 
of  fowls  than  even  close  air.  If  the  dirt  floors  of 
your  houses  are  wet  by  the  rain  soaking  under  the 
foundation,  see  that  everything  is  open  and  a  good 
current  of  air  blowing  through  as  soon  as  the  rain 
stops.  Dampness  and  close  air  are  the  most  prolific 
causes  of  roup  and  other  respiratory  diseases,  and 
neither  should  be  tolerated  for  a  moment. 

Purifying  the  Land 

Fowls  can  bear  more  abuse  than  any  other  domes- 
tic animal,  it  is  said,  and  it  is  astonishing  how  long 
they  will  continue  to  thrive  on  filthy  soil,  but  there 
is  always  an  end.  To  keep  fowls,  as  I  have  seen 


146  POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT 

them,  in  yards  where  droppings  are  piled  so  thick 
and  high  that  the  hens  can  by  no  possibility  touch 
clean  ground  with  bill  or  toes  is  to  invite  disaster. 

Spading  up  the  soil  of  the  runs  and  scattering  lime 
over  them  is  one  way  of  purifying  the  soil,  but  the 
best  way  is  to  plant  green  stuff.  In  this  way  the 
manure  which  cannot  be  raked  up  is  utilized  in  grow- 
ing poultry  feed,  and  the  soil,  if  it  is  left  vacant  till 
the  green  crop  is  grown,  is  thoroughly  purified. 

Rape  is  one  of  the  best  greens  for  this  purpose. 
Fowls  like  it  and  it  makes  a  rapid  growth.  Oats, 
barley  or  any  other  grain  may  be  planted  and  will 
grow  in  a  few  weeks  to  a  height  suitable  for  feeding. 
Where  a  system  of  double  runs  is  maintained  a  new 
crop  can  be  planted  once  a  month  in  the  alternate 
pens.  Corn  is  an  excellent  crop  for  runs  which  can 
be  spared  for  several  months. 

When  runs  and  yards  must  be  used  for  a  year 
without  growing  a  green  crop,  they  should  be  raked 
and  spaded  as  often  as  they  seem  to  need  it.  Sandy 
soil  can  be  kept  clean  in  this  way  much  longer  than 
adobe  or  heavy  loams.  It  is  a  good  plan  sometimes 
to  plant  oats  or  barley  in  occupied  runs,  covering 
them  so  deep  that  the  fowls  will  not  dig  them  out  be- 
fore they  sprout.  If  the  ground  is  kept  moist  three 
or  four  days  and  then  turned  up  with  a  spade,  the 
succulent  sprouts  furnish  both  green  feed  and  an  in- 
centive to  scratch. 

Shade 

In  all  those  localities  where  the  sun  is  liable  to 
be  hot  almost  any  day  in  the  year,  shade  is  more  im- 
portant than  some  poultry  keepers  seem  to  think. 
Chickens  cannot  change  their  clothing  to  suit  the 
weather  and  they  suffer  much  more,  I  am  sure,  than 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  147 

we  humans  do,  from  the  direct  burning  rays  of  the 
sun. 

Baby  chicks  left  exposed  to  the  glare  of  the  sun 
soon  die.  I  went  to  church  one  hot  April  morning 
and  forgot  to  shade  a  Philo  coop  which  held  thirty- 
five  or  forty  young  chicks.  When  I  returned  three 
hours  after  one  chick  was  just  breathing  its  last,  and 
they  dropped  off,  one  by  one,  till  the  entire  brood 
was  gone.  Adult  fowls  can  bear  more  heat  than 
chicks,  but  they  are  very  uncomfortable  and  this 
should  be  reason  enough  for  protecting  them. 

Hens  and  chicks  alike  prefer  the  shade  of  a  low- 
growing  tree  or  vine  to  anything  else.  Nothing 
pleases  them  quite  so  much  as  a  grape  vine.  Corn  is 
a  particularly  good  shade  for  young  chicks.  The 
shade  is  low  and  not  too  dense. 

Deciduous  trees  make  a  very  satisfactory  summer 
shade  and  are  profitable  besides,  but  they  are  of  no 
use  in  February,  when  shade  is  often  greatly  needed. 
For  a  permanent  shade,  good  all  the  year  round, 
nothing  is  such  a  pleasure  to  fowls  or  such  a  satisfac- 
tion to  their  owner  as  a  pepper  tree.  It  might  make 
too  dense  a  shade  in  a  north-front  yard,  but  in  a 
south-front  yard,  especially  on  a  southern  slope,  it 
is  ideal.  Vines  when  they  can  be  made  to  grow  are 
excellent  shade,  but  unless  the  vines  are  started 
ahead  of  the  chickens  they  are  impossible.  Castor 
beans  are  good  but  ugly. 

When  there  is  nothing  else  a  wooden  frame  two  or 
three  feet  high  covered  with  burlap  sacks  makes  a 
very  good  shade,  but  it  is  not  pretty,  and  every  poul- 
try keeper  ought  to  plan  for  some  permanent  green 
shade.  Whether  you  have  a  tree  or  only  a  makeshift 
burlap  shade,  try  throwing  a  pail  of  water  under 
it  every  day,  just  enough  to  keep  the  ground  moist 
and  make  a  wallow  for  the  fowls.  This  helps  to  keep 


148  POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT 

them  free  from  lice  and  gives  a  great  deal  of  com- 
fort. 

Government  Whitewash 

A  thorough  whitewashing  once  a  year,  inside  and 
out,  goes  far  to  keep  buildings  clean  and  sanitary. 
The  following  is  the  formula  for  whitewash  which  is 
recommended  by  the  government : 

One  peck  of  lime  slacked  in  boiling  water  and  kept 
just  covered  by  the  water  while  slacking.  Strain 
through  coarse  cloth.  Add  two  quarts  of  fine  salt 
dissolved  in  warm  water,  one  pound  of  rice  meal 
or  ground  rice  boiled  in  water  to  a  thin  paste,  one- 
quarter  pound  of  whiting,  and  half  a  pound  of  glue 
dissolved  in  warm  water.  Mix  all  thoroughly  and 
let  stand  covered  for  two  or  three  days,  stirring  occa- 
sionally. Heat  the  mixture  before  using.  Sometimes 
a  quantity  of  crude  carbolic  acid  is  added  to  this 
wash,  but  this  changes  the  color  somewhat  and  is  no 
more  effective  than  whitewashing  the  houses  and 
then  painting  roosts  and  nest  boxes  with  the  acid. 

INSECT   PESTS 

Probably  the  control  of  insect  pests  is  the  hardest 
task  the  poultryman  has  to  face,  and  this  is  espe- 
cially true  in  the  warmer  climates  where  they  breed 
the  year  round.  Summer  and  winter  the  fight  must 
be  waged.  There  is  no  let-up,  though  cleanliness  and 
properly  constructed  houses  make  it  easier.  Lice  kill 
baby  chicks  and  turkeys,  stunt  the  growing  stock 
and  make  hens  unproductive  and  prone  to  disease. 
The  little  red  mite  always  lies  in  wait  to  devour  and 
is  sure  death  to  young  stock  and  sitting  hens.  Ticks 
and  fleas  are  found  only  in  certain  localities,  but  are 
very  hard  to  get  rid  of. 

There  are  eight  kinds  of  lice  and  eighteeen  species 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  149 

of  mites  besides  the  tick  or  dovecot  bug,  and  several 
kinds  of  fleas. 

Lice 

Lice  are  the  most  widely  distributed  parasites  of 
poultry  and  are  to  be  found  in  almost  every  flock  that 
is  not  frequently  and  persistently  treated  with  lice 
powder  or  some  other  means  of  removing  them.  The 
common  body  louse  is  yellow  and  may  easily  be  seen 
in  the  fluff  below  the  vent. 

The  dust  bath  is  of  first  importance  in  handling 
these  pests.  In  every  hen  yard  there  should  be  a 
place  where  the  soil  is  kept  moist  by  sprinkling,  and 
frequently  spaded,  so  that  hens  may  dust  themselves 
freely.  Wood  or  coal  ashes  added  to  this  dust  bath 
make  it  still  more  effective.  Some  hens  will  almost 
keep  themselves  free  from  lice  when  they  have  un- 
limited opportunity  for  dusting,  but  there  are  few 
flocks  where  other  treatment  is  not  necessary. 

There  are  three  methods  of  treating  lice :  dusting, 
dipping  and  greasing.  Dusting  is  the  method  most 
generally  employed.  Buhach  or  any  good  louse 
powder  rubbed  well  into  the  fluff  around  the  vent 
and  under  the  wings  will  keep  down  the  lice  for  a 
time,  but  the  dusting  must  always  be  done  twice  at 
intervals  of  five  or  six  days,  so  that  the  nits  which 
hatch  after  the  first  dusting  may  be  killed. 

Dipping  in  sheep  dip,  tobacco  water  or  kerosene 
emulsion  is  very  effective,  and,  it  is  said,  will  keep 
fowls  free  from  lice  a  whole  season  or  longer,  but  it 
is  not  generally  practiced,  because  it  is  very  trouble- 
some and  can  be  done  only  in  the  warmest  weather. 

Blue  Ointment — A  mercury  preparation  which  is 
recommended  by  many  experiment  stations,  is  said 
to  be  very  effective  in  ridding  the  hens  of  lice,  but 
must  be  used  with  great  care  for  it  is  a  powerful 


150  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

poison.  As  used  at  Petaluma  the  blue  ointment, 
which  may  be  purchased  at  almost  any  drug  store,  is 
diluted  with  lard,  a  pound  of  the  ointment  being 
mixed  with  a  gallon  of  lard.  This  is  rubbed  about 
the  vent  and  under  the  wings,  and  is  not  dangerous, 
nor  is  it  as  effective  as  the  blue  ointment  mixed  with 
an  equal  quantity  of  vaseline.  When  the  stronger 
preparation  is  used  a  very  small  quantity  should  be 
taken  on  the  finger  and  carefully  rubbed  about  the 
vent. 

LOWRY  POWDER. — The  Maine  Station  recommends 
this  lice  powder  as  the  cheapest  and  most  effective 
treatment:  3  parts  gasoline,  1  part  crude  carbolic 
acid,  90-95  per  cent  strength.  If  this  strength  of  the 
acid  cannot  be  obtained,  use  3  parts  gasoline,  1  part 
cresol.  Mix  these  together  and  add  gradually  while 
stirring  enough  plaster  of  paris  to  take  up  all  the 
moisture.  As  a  general  rule  it  will  take  about  four 
quarts  of  plaster  of  paris  to  one  quart  of  the  liquid. 
The  liquid  and  dry  plaster  should  be  thoroughly 
mixed,  and  the  resulting  mixture  will  be  a  pinkish- 
brown  powder,  which  is  to  be  worked  into  the  feath- 
ers and  fluff  like  any  other  powder.  This  is  called  the 
Lowry  powder,  after  its  inventor,  Mr.  R.  C.  Lowry  of 
Cornell  University. 

Sitting  hens  should  be  well  dusted  before  the  eggs 
are  given  them  and  two  or  three  times  during  incu- 
bation, so  the  young  chicks  may  be  free  from  lice, 
which  are  fatal  to  them.  It  is  safest,  also,  to  grease 
the  heads  and  throats  of  hen-hatched  chicks  with 
lard,  for  it  is  hard  to  be  sure  that  the  hen  is  perfectly 
clean.  Hen  and  chicks  should  be  dusted  every  week 
or  two  or  the  lice  will  find  them. 

Lice  powder  or  tobacco  powder  or  tobacco  stems 
in  the  sitting  hen's  nest  will  go  far  to  keep  her  free 
from  lice,  and  it  is  said  that  kerosene  sprayed  with 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  151 

an  atomizer  into  the  mother  hen's  feathers,  under  the 
wings  and  around  the  vent  once  a  week,  will  keep 
her  and  her  brood  absolutely  clean. 

Incubator  chicks  are  free  from  lice  when  hatched 
and  will  remain  free  if  brooders  are  disinfected  for 
every  new  brood  and  are  kept  clean  and  at  a  dis- 
tance from  all  hens,  but  it  is  just  as  well  to  dust 
them  occasionally  as  a  matter  of  precaution.  Dr. 
Salmon  says :  "When  anything  is  the  matter  with  a 
horse  the  maxim  is  'Examine  his  feet/  and  when  any- 
thing is  found  wrong  with  poultry  or  other  domesti- 
cated birds  the  maxim  should  be  'Look  for  lice/  ' 

DUST  AND  DISTILLATE. — A  friend  of  mine  has  de- 
vised a  clever  method  of  keeping  lice  from  baby 
chicks.  She  finds  a  nice,  dusty  place  in  the  back  yard 
and  sprays  the  dust  full  of  distillate.  The  chicks' 
coop  and  wire  run  are  then  placed  over  this  dust 
bath,  and  the  chicks  wallow  for  several  days.  Their 
down  is  soon  filled  with  this  oily  dust,  and  the  lice 
never  find  them. 

Mites 

The  most  common  and  injurious  of  the  eighteen 
species  of  mites  is  the  little  red  mite  (Dermanys- 
sus  gallinae),  which  is  found  in  nearly  every 
hen  house  that  is  not  kept  very  clean.  Cement 
floors  and  a  thorough  sweeping  out  of  all  droppings 
every  week  will  go  far  toward  keeping  these 
pests  away.  If  in  addition  houses  are  washed  out 
with  a  garden  hose  every  two  weeks  or  of tener  and 
sprayed  or  painted  once  a  month  with  some  good 
spray,  mites  will  rarely  find  shelter  in  them.  Nest 
boxes  must  be  cleaned  often,  painted  with  lice  killer, 
and  fresh  nest  material  put  in. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  whereas  lice  live  on 
the  bodies  of  the  fowls  themselves  and  "subsist  upon 


152  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

the  productions  of  the  skin  and  fragments  of  feath- 
ers," mites  suck  the  blood  of  their  victims  by  night 
and  find  their  home  in  cracks  in  the  walls,  under  the 
ends  of  roosts  and  in  corners  of  nest  boxes,  and  are 
found  in  great  numbers  among  the  droppings  on  a 
dirt  floor.  Absolute  cleanliness  is  therefore  the  only 
preventive,  and  when  they  have  once  found  a  home 
in  a  poultry  house  only  a  strong  disinfectant  will  kill 
them. 

Here  are  several  good  mixtures,  either  one  of 
which  should  be  effective  in  ridding  a  house  of 
mites : 

1.  KEROSENE  AND  CRUDE  CARBOLIC. — For  spraying 
and  painting  houses  and  coops  there  is  nothing  bet- 
ter than  a  mixture  of  kerosene  and  crude  carbolic 
acid,  three  parts  kerosene  to  one  of  the  acid.    This 
is  recommended  by  the  Maine  Station  and  is  very 
generally  used. 

2.  KEROSENE  EMULSION. — The  Department  of  Ag- 
riculture recommends  a  kerosene  emulsion  which  is 
prepared  as  follows :    Shave  one-half  pound  of  hard 
soap  into  one  gallon  of  soft  water  and  boil  the  mix- 
ture until  the  soap  is  dissolved.    Then  remove  it  to 
a  safe  distance  from  the  fire  and  stir  into  it  at  once 
two  gallons  of  kerosene.    Dilute  this  stock  mixture 
with  10  parts  soft  water  and  apply  as  a  spray  or 
with  a  brush,  being  careful  to  work  into  all  cracks, 
crevices  and  joints. 

3.  CRESOL  DISINFECTANT. — The  Missouri  Station 
recommends  the  following  emulsion:    "Shave  a  10- 
cent  cake  of  laundry  soap  into  a  pint  of  soft  water, 
steep  it  until  a  paste  is  formed,  stir  in  one  pound  of 
commercial  cresol,  beat  or  allow  to  stand  until  the 
paste  is  dissolved,  and  stir  in  one  gallon  of  kerosene." 
Cresol  is  a  very  powerful  disinfectant,  costing  about 
30  cents  a  pound.  Care  must  be  taken  not  to  get  it  on 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  153 

the  hands  or  face.     It  should  be  applied  undiluted 
with  a  brush. 

Watch  the  Brooders 

Brooders  and  coops  where  young  chicks  are  kept 
should  be  examined  and  treated  often  for  mites,  for 
nothing  will  so  quickly  stunt  the  growth  of  young 
stock.  For  coops  for  hens  with  their  broods  it  is  a 
good  plan  to  use  clean  new  boxes  and  never  to  use 
one  a  second  time,  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  nest 
boxes  for  sitting  hens.  If  every  one  of  these  boxes 
is  destroyed  as  soon  as  the  hen  or  the  brood  is 
through  with  it  much  trouble  will  be  saved. 

Tobacco  powder  scattered  through  the  litter  of  the 
sitting  hens'  nests  will  usually  keep  mites  away,  but 
all  nests  should  be  watched. 

MUTTON  TALLOW. — A  very  simple  method  of  keep- 
ing mites  out  of  poultry  houses  is  to  paint  the  roosts 
twice  a  year  with  hot  mutton  tallow.  One  of  the 
largest  poultry  plants  in  Southern  California  uses 
this  successfully.  The  tallow  is  melted  and  then  is 
kept  hot  over  a  small  oil  stove  while  the  caretaker 
goes  from  house  to  house  and  paints  the  roosts  with 
it.  On  this  plant  all  the  roosting  houses  have  cement 
floors,  and  between  the  cement  below  and  the  tallow 
on  the  roosts,  with  a  good  cleaning  out  twice  a  week, 
no  mite  has  a  chance  to  find  shelter. 

Carbolineum,  zenoleum  and  other  coal-tar  prep- 
arations are  highly  recommended  for  this  purpose. 
They  are  applied  with  a  brush  to  roosts  and  walls. 

Ticks 

The  tick  or  bedbug  of  poultry  closely  resembles 
the  bedbug  found  in  dwelling  houses.  It  is  found 
only  in  certain  localities,  usually  on  very  sandy  soil, 
but  where  it  does  exist  it  is  a  terrible  pest.  The 


154  POULTRY   FOR   PROFIT 

Maine  Station's  bulletin  on  poultry  management  says 
the  sprays  recommended  for  mites  will  destroy  ticks 
as  well,  but  California  poultrymen  have  found  paint- 
ing or  spraying  the  infested  house  with  corrosive 
sublimate  solution  (8  ounces  of  corrosive  sublimate 
to  20  gallons  of  water)  the  most  effective  remedy. 
When  houses  can  be  tightly  closed  they  may  be  fumi- 
gated with  sulphur  or  formaldehyde  or  with  the 
cyanide  process  used  for  citrus  trees. 

With  ticks  as  with  other  pests,  the  best  remedy 
is  prevention.  A  house  that  is  kept  perfectly  clean  is 
not  likely  to  be  infested. 

Fleas 

The  common  hen  flea  (Pulex  gallinae)  is  also 
found  in  dirty  houses  and  runs,  and  especially  in 
nests  where  straw  is  used.  Theobald  recommends 
the  use  of  excelsior  or  shavings  for  nesting  material 
because  fleas  do  not  breed  as  readily  in  them  as  in 
straw. 

The  most  effective  remedy  for  fleas  is  perfect 
cleanliness.  Whitewashing  with  a  wash  to  which 
qrude  carbolic  acid  has  been  added  (1  pint  acid  to 
12  gallons  whitewash) ,  and  throwing  or  spraying  it 
into  all  the  cracks  and  dark  corners  will  usually 
drive  them  out,  but  the  houses  must  be  watched  and 
cleaned  again  and  again.  To  get  the  fleas  off  the 
hens  dip  them  in  Zenoleum  or  a  good  sheep  dip. 

For  sticktight  fleas  and  sand  fleas  spray  or  wash 
the  houses  with  hot  salt  water  and  apply  corrosive 
sublimate  to  the  fleas  found  on  the  chickens.  In 
handling  corrosive  sublimate  care  must  be  taken  to 
keep  it  out  of  the  chickens'  or  the  attendant's  eyes, 
for  it  is  a  very  deadly  poison. 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  155 

HYGIENIC  FEEDING 

Sanitation  looks  to  the  external  conditions  which 
surround  the  bird;  hygiene  to  internal  conditions; 
and  when  we  refer  to  internal  conditions  we  usually 
mean  conditions  affecting  the  digestion,  for  the 
fowl's  digestive  tract,  like  man's,  is  "where  he  lives." 

There  are  six  essentials  to  hygienic  feeding : 

1.  PURE  FOOD. — Don't  buy  moldy  corn  or  ground 
grain  because  it  is  cheap.    It  may  prove  to  be  very 
dear.  Don't  buy  beef  scrap  without  knowing  whether 
it  is  made  of  hoofs  and  horns  or  of  something  more 
digestible.     If  grain  gets   wet   and   molds  on  your 
hands,  don't  feed  it.    The  fowls  may  be  able  to  eat 
it  without  suffering,  and  they  may  not. 

Don't  feed  moldy  bread  or  spoiled  table  scraps, 
and  be  particularly  careful  about  spoiled  meat  and 
putrefying  fowls  and  animals.  Every  bird  that  dies 
about  the  place  should  be  buried  deep  or  burned. 
Limberneck  and  ptomaine  poisoning  result  from  the 
fowls  getting  this  kind  of  food. 

2.  CLEAN  WATER. — Water  has  been  called  the 
cheapest  of  poultry  foods,  and  fowls  drink  a  great 
deal  when  it  is  clean  and  cool.    Never  set  water  be- 
fore your  fowls  that  you  would  not  drink  yourself. 

3.  CLEAN    FOUNTAINS   AND   FEED   TROUGHS. — 
Crocks  and  pans  should  be  scalded  once  a  week  and 
rinsed  every  day.    They  should  also  stand  on  a  table 
or  platform  where  the  fowls  cannot  scratch  filth  into 
them.    A  galvanized  iron  pan   is   more  easily  kept 
clean  than  the  porcelain  crocks  which  are  often  used. 

Troughs  or  pans  in  which  wet  mash  is  fed  should 
be  scraped  clean  every  time  they  are  used,  and 
washed  often.  Never  leave  wet  mash  standing  be- 
fore the  fowls.  It  molds  quickly  and  then  becomes 
unfit  for  food. 

4.  CLEAN  SCRATCHING  LITTER. — Moldy  scratch- 


156  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

ing  litter  is  just  as  dangerous  as  moldy  grain.  The 
mold  spores  enter  the  air  passages  and  form  a 
growth  which  spreads  through  the  lungs  and  often 
into  the  digestive  organs. 

5.  GREEN  FEED. — The  health  of  the  fowls  as  well 
as  egg  production  demands    a   plentiful  supply  of 
green  feed.     The  mineral  salts  and  especially  the 
chlorophyl  in  the  fresh,  succulent  greens  are  better 
than  any  medicine  for  keeping  the  liver  in  order. 
Never  stint  your  stock,  young  or  old,  on  green  feed. 

6.  EXERCISE. — Health  and  productiveness  depend 
on  exercise,  and  for  fowls  closely  confined  scratching 
for  their  grain  is  practically  the  only  means  of  ex- 
ercise.    Every  poultry  yard  should  have  a  scratch- 
ing pen  either   in   the   house    or   outside,  and  this 
should  be  kept  full  of  litter — six  or  eight  inches  is 
none  too  much — and  every  bit  of  grain  thrown  in 
this  litter  for  the  hens  to  dig  out.     Dry  leaves  and 
corn  stalks  may  be  used  if  straw  and  hay  are  scarce, 
but  there  is  nothing  quite  so  good  as  alfalfa  hay. 

Droppings  Indicate  Health 

The  condition  of  the  droppings  furnishes  a  good 
indication  of  the  hen's  health.  They  should  be  of 
sufficient  consistency  to  hold  their  shape,  but  should 
not  be  too  solid.  In  color  they  should  be  dark,  taper- 
ing off  into  grayish  white.  If  the  droppings  are  soft 
or  pasty  and  of  yellowish  or  brownish  color,  it  in- 
dicates too  much  carbohydrates  or  a  lack  of  meat. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  droppings  are  watery  and 
dark  with  red  splashes  of  mucus  in  them,  it  indi- 
cates too  much  meat.  A  greenish,  watery  diarrhea 
usually  indicates  unsanitary  conditions,  either  in  the 
surroundings,  the  feed,  or  the  water. 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  157 

CARING  FOR  HENS  IN  SUMMER 

The  care  of  hens  in  summer  must  be  considered 
from  two  points  of  view,  i.  e,,  comfort  and  diet. 

Many  hens  begin  to  molt  by  the  first  of  July,  and 
while  molting  is  a  natural  process,  it  is  still  some- 
thing of  a  drain  on  the  system.  The  molting  hen  is 
not  a  sick  hen,  but  if  she  has  been  doing  her  part  at 
filling  the  egg  basket  she  is  a  tired  hen.  If  she  has 
been  loafing,  she  should  be  disposed  of  before  the 
molt  begins. 

The  key-word  to  the  care  of  hens  during  the  molt- 
ing period,  which  begins  the  first  of  July  and  lasts 
till  December,  is  rest,  and  rest  means  comfort.  All 
hens  that  are  not  to  be  kept  through  another  season 
should  be  sold  in  June,  so  that  the  molting  hens 
may  have  more  room. 

On  the  farm  or  on  the  poultry  plant  of  consider- 
able acreage  there  is  often  a  shady  orchard  into 
which  the  hens  can  be  turned  for  their  summer  rest. 
On  a  large  plant  this  is  not,  of  course,  practicable, 
but  the  hens  kept  on  these  large  plants  are  invari- 
ably White  Leghorns,  and  they,  for  some  reason, 
adapt  themselves  to  crowded  conditions  and  lack  of 
range  much  more  readily  than  do  the  heavy  breeds. 
For  Rocks,  Reds  and  Orpingtons  an  orchard,  planted 
to  rape  or  barley,  where  the  hens  may  range  and 
loaf,  is  an  ideal  vacation  ground,  and  they  will  need 
less  feeding  if  allowed  to  forage  for  part  of  their 
living.  The  summer  outing  is  not  more  valuable  to 
the  tired  business  man  than  it  is  to  the  "business 
hen." 

The  hen  that  is  allowed  to  range  a  little  will  find 
a  place  where  she  can  wallow  in  soft  dirt  in  the 
shade  of  a  tree.  When  she  is  confined,  such  a  place 
must  be  provided  for  her. 

Drinking  vessels  should  receive  special  care  dur- 


158  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

ing  the  summer.  Rinse  them  out  thoroughly  at  least 
once  a  day  and  scald  once  a  week  to  remove  every 
bit  of  the  algae  which  grows  so  quickly  in  warm 
weather.  Keeping  the  vessels  in  the  shade  helps  to 
keep  down  this  troublesome  green  growth.  Cool, 
fresh  water  means  much  to  the  comfort  of  hens  in 
hot  weather  and  should  be  provided  twice  a  day  al- 
ways, oftener  if  necessary.  On  one  of  the  largest 
poultry  plants  in  Southern  California  the  water 
troughs  are  emptied  and  rinsed  three  times  a  day. 

Comfort  at  night  is  quite  as  essential  as  comfort 
during  the  day.  Hens  that  are  crowded  in  close, 
stuffy  quarters,  or  worried  by  lice  and  mites,  can- 
not sleep  well  and  will  be  fagged  and  worn  before 
the  summer  is  over.  Every  roosting  house  should 
be  provided  with  windows  at  the  rear,  which  may  be 
opened  in  warm  weather.  Where  only  a  few  hens 
are  kept,  or  where  they  are  moved  to  the  orchard  for 
the  summer,  temporary  coops  of  1x3  covered  with 
muslin  or  burlap  make  inexpensive  summer  roosting 
places.  If  the  hens  happen  to  roost  on  top  no  harm 
is  done;  in  fact,  sleeping  out  of  doors  is  just  as  good 
for  hens  as  it  is  for  folks,  and  an  out  of  door  roost- 
ing place  can  often  be  managed  if  only  one  thinks  of 
it.  Nearly  all  my  pullets  this  summer  left  their 
coops  and  roosted  outside,  and  they  are  in  the  pink 
of  condition. 

The  same  principles  that  govern  the  diet  of  hu- 
man beings  in  summer  apply  also  to  the  feeding  of 
hens.  A  lighter  diet,  less  of  meat  and  all  heating 
foods,  and  more  of  succulent  greens,  is  as  necessary 
to  hens  as  is  an  increased  proportion  of  fruit  and 
vegetables  to  the  rest  of  us.  Omit  corn  and  corn 
meal  from  the  ration  until  it  is  needed  for  making 
feathers;  allow  access  to  the  mash  for  half  a  day 
only ;  give  all  the  greens  the  hens  will  eat,  and  sprout 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  159 

part  of  the  grain  instead  of  feeding  it  dry.  Whole 
barley,  soaked  and  allowed  to  stand  two  or  three 
days  till  the  sprouts  begin  to  show  is  one  of  the  best 
of  summer  feeds.  This  sprouted  barley  in  the  morn- 
ing, with  wheat  in  the  litter  at  night,  greens  at  noon, 
and  half  a  day's  access  to  the  dry  mash  hopper, 
makes  a  good  summer  ration  for  stock  of  all  ages. 

Some  Leghorn  breeders  feed  a  little  whole  corn 
with  the  wheat  and  barley  right  through  the  sum- 
mer, but  this  will  not  do  for  heavy  hens. 

Overfat  hens  are  in  no  condition  to  go  through 
the  molt  and  must  be  put  by  themselves  and  their 
ration  reduced.  This  is  very  necessary,  for  an  over- 
fat  hen,  while  she  drops  her  feathers  easily,  can- 
not so  easily  manufacture  new  ones. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Fixtures  and  Conveniences 

WATER  VESSELS 

On  a  poultry  plant  of  any  size  it  is  necessary 
for  water  to  be  piped  to  each  pen  or  to  each  two  pens. 
If  the  hydrant  is  between  the  pens  a  single  pan 
placed  under  it  will  answer  for  both. 

Galvanized  iron  pans  or  basins  are  more  easily 
cleaned  than  those  of  tin,  but  the  large  stone  crocks 
which  are  still  used  in  many  places  have  the  ad- 
vantage of  being  very  firm,  so  that  a  bird  alighting 
on  the  edge  is  in  no  danger  of  tipping  them  over. 

There  are  various  systems  by  which  a  large  plant 
may  be  supplied  with  water,  some  of  them  working 
automatically,  but  for  the  beginner  there  is  nothing 
better  than  the  faucet  and  movable  pan.  The  pan 
should  always  be  upon  a  raised  platform  so  that  the 
birds  will  not  scratch  filth  and  litter  into  it. 

For  baby  chicks  there  is  nothing  better  than  the 
galvanized  iron  fountains  which  are  sold  by  all  sup- 
ply houses. 

A  handy  water  fountain  is  made  of  a  ten-pound 
lard  pail.  Cut  notches  in  the  upper  edge  about  two 
inches  wide  and  three  inches  deep.  Four  or  five  of 
these  may  be  cut  so  that  several  hens  can  drink  at 
once.  Put  on  the  cover  and  hang  up  by  the  bail  at 
a  convenient  height.  This  fountain  protects  the 
water  from  all  contamination  and  costs  practically 
nothing. 


FIG.   30 — MOVABLE   HOPPER 


FIG.   J>1 FEED  HOPPER  FOR  BABY   CHICKS 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  161 

HOPPERS  AND  FEEDERS 

Feed  hoppers  should  be  large  enough  to  hold  at 
least  a  week's  supply  of  mash.  They  may  either  be 
separate  and  movable  or  built  into  the  house.  A 
very  convenient  style,  which  may  be  used  either  in- 
doors or  out,  is  used  at  the  Missouri  Station  (Fig. 
23). 

California  poultrymen  generally  prefer  a  long 
trough  which  is  built  into  the  house,  either  along  the 
front,  where  the  open  front  house  is  used,  or  along 
the  alley,  where  a  house  with  two  sections  and  an 
alley  between  is  used. 

In  the  model  laying  house  described  in  Chapter  I, 
the  feed  box  and  water  trough  are  side  by  side  along 
the  outside  of  the  scratching  shed. 

A  very  good  trough  for  feeding  moistened  mash 
to  baby  chicks  is  made  in  the  usual  triangular  form 
and  covered  with  a  slat  roof  of  the  same  shape,  with 
the  slats  sufficiently  far  apart  to  allow  the  chicks  to 
put  their  heads  between. 

Every  house  should  contain  a  bin  for  grain,  so 
that  there  may  be  no  carrying  of  feed  through  the 
rain  in  wet  weather  nor  unnecessary  steps  in  warm 
weather. 

THE  BROODY  COOP 

On  a  farm  where  hens  of  the  heavy  breeds  are 
kept,  and  to  some  extent  on  any  poultry  plant,  a  coop 
for  broody  hens  is  a  necessity.  Such  a  coop  is  best 
made  of  slats,  with  slat  bottom,  so  that  the  hen  can 
never  find  a  warm  place  to  sit  in,  and  should  be  built 
into  the  house,  if  possible,  so  that  she  may  have  all 
the  protection  others  have.  At  the  Missouri  Station 
the  sides  of  the  coop  are  made  of  two-inch  mesh 
wire,  as  in  Fig.  34.  Such  a  coop  need  be  only  large 
enough  for  the  hen  to  turn  around  in.  If  a  hen  is 


162  POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT 

confined  as  soon  as  she  is  seen  remaining  on  the  nest 
at  night,  and  kept  in  the  coop  four  days,  she  will  be 
broken  of  her  desire  to  sit  and  will  usually  begin  to 
lay  again  in  a  week.  While  in  confinement  she  should 
be  well  fed,  so  that  she  may  be  in  condition  to  begin 
laying  as  soon  as  possible.  Starving  hens,  shutting 
them  up  in  the  dark  or  turning  the  hose  on  them 
are  methods  of  treatment  that  are  worse  than  use- 
less. The  broody  hen  must  be  helped  to  forget  her 
desire  to  incubate,  and  only  gentle  treatment  will 
do  this. 

ROOSTS 

Roosting  too  early  is  generally  believed  to  be  the 
cause  of  crooked  breastbones.  Whether  or  not  there 
is  any  foundation  for  this  belief  it  is  well  to  guard 
against  any  such  trouble  by  not  trying  to  force 
young  birds  to  roost  before  they  are  ready. 

Chickens  of  different  breeds  and  often  of  the  same 
breed  differ  greatly  in  the  age  at  which  they  wish 
to  roost.  Last  spring  some  of  my  young  Orpingtons 
which  had  been  deserted  by  their  mother  began  to 
roost  in  a  tree  when  they  were  barely  a  month  old, 
but  this  was  exceptional.  Most  chicks  do  not  try  to 
roost  before  they  are  six  weeks  old,  and  some  delay 
till  two  months  or  even  longer. 

When  the  chicks  are  about  six  weeks  old  and  no 
longer  need  other  warmth  than  that  of  their  own 
bodies,  it  is  a  good  plan  to  place  them  in  colony 
coops  which  have  roosts  but  are  also  bedded  with 
straw.  Sometimes  I  put  a  shallow  box  or  basket 
half  full  of  straw  or  dry  leaves  on  the  floor  of  the 
coop  under  the  roosts,  and  the  first  night  I  put  all  the 
chicks  in  this.  They  soon  learn  to  go  to  bed  in  the 
right  place,  but  little  by  little  the  more  venturesome 
find  the  roosts  and  go  there  instead  of  into  the  bas- 


FIG.  34 BROODY  COOP 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  163 

ket,  and  after  a  short  time  I  find  them  all  on  the 
roosts. 

Roosts  for  young  stock  should  be  two  inches  wide. 
For  adult  fowls  three  inches  is  a  better  width,  for 
the  efforts  of  a  large  fowl  to  keep  itself  on  a  narrow 
roost  by  grasping  it  tightly  with  its  claws  sometimes 
result  in  bumblefoot.  Chickens  should  be  able  to 
rest  comfortably  on  a  perch  without  having  to  cling. 

Roosts  for  heavy  fowls  should  be  not  over  two  and 
one-half  feet  from  the  ground.  Leghorns  may  roost 
considerably  higher,  but  an  Orpington  or  a  Rock,  in 
jumping  from  a  high  roost  onto  a  hard  floor  fre- 
quently bruises  its  feet  and  causes  bumblefoot.  Place 
all  roosts  on  the  same  level.  If  they  are  of  different 
heights  all  the  birds  will  crowd  upon  the  highest. 

A  very  good  roost  is  made  of  2x2  material  with  the 
upper  sides  rounded.  This  is  recommended  by  the 
Department  of  Agriculture. 

A  GOOD  NEST 

The  proper  sort  of  nest  is  a  very  important  part 
of  the  poultry  house  plan.  On  the  farm  or  the  back 
lot  where  only  a  few  hens  are  kept,  a  grocery  box, 
if  it  is  of  the  right  size  and  contains  sufficient  litter, 
answers  very  well,  but  the  poultry  house  which  is 
destined  to  hold  many  layers  must  contain  nests  that 
are  well  planned  and  efficient. 

A  favorite  way  of  building  nests  is  to  put  them 
under  the  droppings  boards.  Some  of  the  best  ex- 
periment stations  do  this,  and  it  is  a  very  good  way 
where  the  requirements  of  cleanliness  are  observed. 
Others  build  them  along  the  front  of  the  laying  house 
where  they  are  entirely  away  from  the  roosts. 

The  proper  size  of  the  nest  must  receive  careful 
consideration.  It  should  not  be  too  small,  for  two 
hens  will  often  crowd  upon  one  nest,  with  resulting 


164  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

breakage.  Professor  Graham  of  the  Massachusetts 
experiment  station  recommends  a  nest  16x24  inches. 
This  is  large  enough  to  permit  several  hens  to  go  on 
at  the  same  time,  and  he  has  found  that  it  reduces 
the  number  of  cracked  and  broken  eggs  to  a  mini- 
mum. 

Some  experiment  stations  recommend  the  nest 
with  a  bottom  of  wire  cloth  as  being  more  easily 
kept  clean  from  mites.  Others  prefer  a  nest  in 
which  the  sides  rest  upon  the  bottom  without  being 
nailed,  so  that  they  may  be  lifted  off  and  the  bottom 
thoroughly  cleaned.  This  could  only  be  managed  by 
having  sides  which  extended  but  few  inches  above 
the  bottom,  leaving  an  opening  above  where  the  hens 
could  crawl  from  nest  to  nest. 

Hens  like  a  nest  that  is  rather  dark  and  secluded, 
and  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  all  nests  be  kept 
clean. 

HOMEMADE  CONVENIENCES 

While  it  is  true  that  the  commercial  poultry  keeper 
and  the  large  breeder  must  have  the  best  equipment, 
and  enough  of  it,  it  is  also  true  that  the  farmer  and 
the  side-line  poultryman  can  often  manage  without 
putting  very  much  money  into  equipment.  A  little 
ingenuity  will  devise  brooders  that  are  quite  as  good 
as  the  patent  sort,  and  sometimes  better. 

In  a  backyard  plant  I  saw  300  White  Wyandotte 
chicks,  just  out  of  the  incubator,  being  cared  for  in 
a  clever  modification  of  the  Philo  brooder.  The  coops 
used  were  the  regular  Philo  coops,  all  facing  south. 
Half  of  the  top  was  covered  with  cheesecloth,  and 
about  half  the  other  end  with  wire,  leaving  a  space 
in  the  middle  for  the  Philo  brooder,  which  was  un- 
covered except  for  a  six-pane  window  sash.  The 
sash  extended  far  enough  beyond  the  sides  of  the 


FIG.    35 BROOD   COOP   MADE   OF   GROCERY   BOX 


FIG.  36 — "JUG  MOTHER"  AND  SIMPLE  BROODIXG  COOP 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  165 

brooder  so  that  it  partly  protected  the  wire-covered 
run  at  the  end  into  which  the  brooder  door  opened. 
This  arrangement  gave  the  chicks  the  three  tem- 
peratures which  a  newly  hatched  chick  requires :  the 
high  temperature  of  the  brooder  which,  with  the  sun 
shining  on  the  glass,  was  very  warm  indeed;  the 
cooler,  but  still  warm  space  just  outside  the  door  but 
under  the  glass;  and  the  out-of-door  but  well  pro- 
tected space  under  the  wire,  where  the  drinking 
fountain  and  some  scattered  rolled  oats  awaited  the 
enterprising  chick  that  dared  venture  so  far.  The 
cheesecloth-covered  end  of  the  brooder  was  entirely 
fenced  off,  but  would  be  used  later.  At  night  a  quilt 
or  flannel  hover  was  substituted  for  the  sash.  There 
were  six  of  these  brooders,  each  holding  fifty  chicks. 
An  easy  way  of  caring  for  baby  chicks  without 
a  brooder  or  brooder  house  is  to  have  a  small  pen 
fenced  with  inch  mesh  wire  and  built  against  the 
east  side  of  some  building  so  that  it  is  entirely  pro- 
tected from  the  prevailing  westerly  winds.  Facing 
east,  with  its  back  against  the  house,  place  a  good- 
sized  dry  goods  box  which  is  perfectly  tight  on  three 
sides.  The  floor  of  this  box  is  covered  with  sand  and 
chaff  or  finely-cut  straw.  The  fireless  brooder,  with 
its  twenty-five  chicks,  stands  in  this  box,  with  door 
opening  into  the  box  so  that  the  chicks  have  a  little 
run  inside  for  the  first  few  days.  When  they  are 
four  or  five  days  old,  sooner  if  the  weather  is  warm, 
they  are  let  out  into  a  little  run  which  is  wired  off 
for  them  just  in  front  of  the  box;  for  baby  chicks 
are  such  foolish,  helpless  creatures  that  they  can 
never  find  their  way  back  if  they  once  get  away  from 
the  brooder.  After  a  week  or  two,  according  to  the 
weather  and  the  disposition  of  the  chicks,  this  inside 
fence  is  removed  and  the  chicks  have  the  run  of  the 
pen,  but  they  must  never  be  allowed  far  from  the 


166  POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT 

coop  until  they  are  brooder  broken,  that  is,  till  they 
have  learned  to  return  to  it  wherever  they  are. 

There  are  various  ways  of  keeping  baby  chicks 
warm  at  night  in  these  fireless  brooders.  A  vinegar 
jug  filled  with  hot  water  and  wrapped  in  flannel 
makes  a  splendid  mother,  but  if  this  is  used  the 
frame  with  the  quilt  attached  to  it  must  be  replaced 
temporarily  with  a  blanket  or  old  sweater. 

When  the  jug  of  hot  water  is  used,  and  it  is  an 
effective  but  troublesome  method,  the  brooder  is 
more  easily  constructed  of  a  box  about  the  size  and 
shape  of  an  apple  box.  This  must  be  made  tight  on 
all  sides  and  is  then  placed  on  its  side  with  the  open 
top  facing  the  side  of  the  box  coop.  The  hover  is  at- 
tached to  a  frame  which  rests  on  cleats  at  the  two 
ends  of  the  brooder,  but  the  quilt  or  blanket  must 
be  large  enough  to  drop  down  over  the  sides  of  the 
jug  and  rest  on  the  backs  of  the  chicks.  It  is  a  de- 
light to  see  the  comfort  of  a  brood  of  chicks  cuddled 
about  a  jug  with  a  blanket  tucked  close  about  them. 

CANS  AND  PANS. — There  are  tricks  in  all  trades, 
and  one  of  the  tricks  the  side  line  poultry  keeper 
must  learn  is  to  use  what  he  has  and  not  spend 
money  for  what  he  can  do  without.  Nothing  about 
the  house  is  more  useful  for  supplying  the  needs  of 
baby  chicks  than  the  empty  baking  powder  can.  The 
cover  makes  a  splendid  receptacle  for  grit,  charcoal 
or  bran,  and  the  can  itself,  with  a  little  nick  in  the 
edge  of  the  top,  makes  a  very  fair  fountain  when  in- 
verted in  a  saucer.  When  the  chicks  outgrow  bak- 
ing powder  can  covers  I  give  them  their  dry  mash 
in  tuna  cans.  When  the  tuna  can  in  its  turn  is  out- 
grown, they  get  an  old  basin  which  has  served  its 
day  in  the  kitchen.  I  worked  out  for  myself  a  dry 
mash  hopper  for  grown  fowls,  which  I  considered 
merely  a  temporary  makeshift  until  I  read  that  a 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 


167 


very  similar  device  was  used  at  one  of  the  egg-laying 
contests.  It  is  a  tin  or  agate  basin — a  tin  milk  pan  is 
about  right  size,  and  costs  ten  cents — with  a  square 
of  inch-mesh  wire  over  the  top  which  is  held  down 
by  half  a  brick  in  the  middle. 

TRAP-NESTS 

In  planning  trap-nests  for  a  laying  house,  one 
trap-nest  should  be  provided  for  every  four  or  five 
hens.  It  is  necessary  to  visit  the  nest  several  times 
a  day  to  release  the  hens  that  are  confined  on  the 
nest.  This  is  more  work  than  most  farmers  are  will- 


FIG.    39 DIAGRAM   OF   MISSOURI   TRAPNEST,   SHOWING  ACTION   OF  TRIGGER 

ing  to  undertake,  but  it  is  the  only  certain  way  of 
finding  the  best  layers.  As  each  hen  is  released  from 
the  nest,  her  number  is  noted,  and  a  record  made. 

Oregon  Trap-Nest 

The  Oregon  trap-nest  has  been  in  use  twelve  years 
and  is  one  of  the  simplest  and  cheapest  designs.  As 


168 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 


the  hen  enters  the  nest,  her  weight  closes  the  door, 
and  it  is  impossible  for  her  to  get  out  or  for  another 
hen  to  enter.  When  the  nests  are  built  in  a  single 
tier  the  hen  may  be  taken  out  either  through  the 
door  or  through  the  top. 

This  nest  can  be  made  from    one  10-foot  board. 
The  material  required  consists  of : 

1  board  1x12x10. 

6  screw  eyes  No.  210  bright. 

2  pieces  iron  rod  3-16x12. 
2  pieces  rawhide  9x%. 

After  nailing  together,  turn  the  nest  on  its  side 
and  bore  the  holes  in  the  sides  for  the  3-16-inch  iron 


HOME-MADE    TRAP-NEST    RECOMMENDED    BY     UNITED     STATES     DEPARTMENT 
OF    AGRICULTURE 


rod.    The  holes  are  1  inch  from  the  bottom  and 
inches  from  the  nest  front. 

On  the  bottom  of  the  trip-board,  put  a  screw  eye 
%  inch  from  the  end  and  1  inch  from  each  side.  At 
the  other  end  of  trip-board,  bore  %-inch  holes,  1  inch 
from  one  end  and  3  inches  from  each  side. 

On  the  bottom  and  at  each  side  of  the  door  put  in 


FIG.  37 OREGON  TKAPNBST 


FIG.  38 MISSOURI  TRAPNEST 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 


169 


a  screw  eye  1%  inches  from  the  end  and  %  inches 
from  the  sides.  On  the  upper  side  tack  two  rawhide 
strips  using  a  small  staple  or  nail  for  each.  The  end 
of  the  strap  will  be  2  inches  from  the  end  and  % 
inch  from  the  side  of  the  door. 

Place  the  door  in  front    of   the  trip-board,  the 


screw  eyes  down;  push  the  rawhide  strips  through 
the  holes  in  the  trip-board ;  turn  the  boards  over  and 
draw  the  strips  up  tight  then  bend  the  door  back 
over  the  trip-board  until  there  is  full  %  inch  between 
the  boards  when  laid  flat;  the  strap  should  then  be 
tacked  to  the  lower  side  of  the  trip-board. 

The  door  and  trip-board  are  put  in  place  by  push- 
ing the  iron  rods  through  the  sides  and  the  screw 
eyes.  Care  should  be  taken  in  placing  the  screw 
eyes  in  the  proper  places.  The  screw  eyes  may  be 
adjusted  in  order  to  make  the  door  balance  properly. 


CHAPTER  X 
Diseases  and  Vices 

It  is  sometimes  supposed,  because  the  poultry 
press  has  so  much  to  say  about  diseases  of  fowls, 
that  they  are  more  liable  to  disease  than  other 
domestic  animals.  Nothing  could  be  farther  from 
the  truth.  A  hen  can  bear  more  neglect  and  careless 
handling  than  any  other  animal  would  endure,  and 
it  is  just  because  she  can  endure  so  long  in  spite  of 
bad  air,  foul  water  and  unhygienic  feeding  that 
when  she  does  get  sick,  the  case  is  apt  to  be  hopeless. 

CAUSES  OF  DISEASE 

Causes  of  disease  in  fowls  may  be  classified  as  fol- 
lows: 

1. — INHERENT  WEAKNESS. — Fowls  which  lack  con- 
stitutional vigor  are  always  the  first  to  contract  dis- 
ease. Run-down  stock  which,  either  through  in- 
breeding or  lack  of  selection  for  vigor,  has  lost  its 
vitality  is  the  prey  of  ailments  which  pass  by  a  vigor- 
ous, well  cared  for  flock.  In  fact,  neither  prevention 
nor  treatment  is  of  much  use  with  run-down  stock. 
Keep  your  stock  vigorous,  and  disease  will  give  it  a 
wide  berth. 

2. — POOR  FEEDING  AND  SANITATION. — These  mat- 
ters have  been  fully  discussed  in  the  chapter  on  sani- 
tation. The  most  vigorous  stock  will  not  remain 
vigorous  in  filthy  quarters  or  with  careless  feeding, 
and  a  fowl  that  has  once  been  really  sick  rarely  re- 
gains its  vigor. 

3. — CONTAGION. — Chicken-pox,  cholera  and  many 
other  diseases  are  passed  from  fowl  to  fowl  with  ap- 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  171 

parently  no  other  reason  for  their  existence,  yet  even 
these  diseases  will  be  found  to  attack  the  weaker 
stock  first.  Chicken-pox,  particularly,  is  very  infec- 
tious, and  may  be  carried  in  coops  or  on  the  hands  or 
clothing,  and  the  germs  will  remain  year  after  year 
in  a  house  where  it  has  been.  When  any  contagious 
disease  is  prevalent,  the  greatest  care  should  be  ob- 
served to  avoid  carrying  the  disease  in  any  way. 
When  any  sick  fowl  has  been  treated,  the  hands 
should  always  be  thoroughly  cleansed  before  other 
fowls  or  feed  troughs  or  water  fountains  are 
handled. 

4. — ACCIDENT. — Such  diseases  as  crop  bound,  rup- 
ture of  the  ovary  or  egg  tube,  are  in  a  way  accidental, 
and  yet  they  may  very  often  be  traced  in  the  final 
analysis  to  a  weakened  constitution. 

Prevention  is  better  than  any  sort  of  treatment, 
but  when  disease  does  appear,  promptness  in  dealing 
with  it  may  effect  a  cure,  when  delay  means  sure 
death. 

SIGNS  OF  DISEASE 

The  poultry  keeper  should  train  his  eye  to  discern 
any  lapse  from  health  on  the  part  of  a  single  one  of 
his  fowls;  the  dark  or  pale  comb,  the  lagging  step, 
the  ruffled  plumage,  the  "humped  up"  attitude,  the 
failure  to  be  on  hand  at  meal  time,  are  all  indications 
that  something  is  wrong.  Now  is  the  time  to  find  out 
what  is  the  trouble.  Don't  wait  till  they  are  past 
help. 

Diseases  of  fowls,  like  those  of  human  beings,  are 
acute  and  chronic.  The  chronic  disease  comes  on 
slowly  and  gradually ;  the  only  symptoms  at  first  may 
be  the  color  of  the  comb  or  a  disposition  to  stay  on 
the  roost.  Acute  disease  comes  on  more  rapidly. 
Sometimes  the  only  symptom  is  a  dumpiness  or 
drowsiness  that  increases  till  the  fowl  dies. 


172  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

The  hen's  comb  has  been  called  her  "certificate  of 
health,"  so  unerring  a  signal  does  it  display  as  to  her 
physical  condition.  An  acute  disease  like  roup  does 
not,  of  course,  immediately  change  the  color  of  the 
comb,  but  a  bright  red  comb  can  usually  be  counted 
on  as  an  indication  of  vigorous  health.  Sometimes  a 
pale  or  shrunken  comb  merely  indicates  that  the  hen 
is  not  laying,  but  a  hen  with  such  a  comb  should 
always  be  watched.  A  pale  comb,  combined  with 
diminishing  weight,  "going  light,"  suggests  tuber- 
culosis and  should  subject  the  fowl  to  careful  investi- 
gation, followed,  in  most  cases,  by  speedy  elimina- 
tion. A  dark  comb  means  liver  trouble,  and  the  case 
should  be  taken  in  hand  before  further  symptoms 
develop.  When  warty-looking  excrescences  appear 
on  the  comb  and  about  the  head,  chicken-pox  may  be 
safely  diagnosed. 

As  soon  as  the  first  sign  of  illness  is  observed  it  is 
a  good  plan  to  give  a  dose  of  castor  oil  or  Epsom 
salts  and  put  the  bird  on  free  range  where  it  can 
pick  at  something  green  if  it  wishes  to  eat.  Some 
poultry  men  give  their  flocks  Epsom  salts  in  the  wet 
mash  once  every  week  or  so  to  cleanse  the  system 
and  prevent  liver  trouble.  Others  give  it  regularly 
for  a  while  in  the  spring. 

COMMON  DISEASES 

The  following  descriptions  of  symptoms  and  sug- 
gestions for  treatment  are  taken  mainly  from  "Poul- 
try Diseases  and  Their  Treatment,"  by  Dr.  Raymond 
Pearl  of  the  Maine  Station,  which  may  be  had  for  25 
cents  by  writing  to  the  Agricultural  Experiment  Sta- 
tion, Orono,  Maine;  and  from  Bulletin  530  of  the 
U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture  by  Dr.  Salmon, 
which  will  be  sent  free.  Every  keeper  of  poultry 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  173 

should  have  at  hand  some  such  book  for  immediate 
reference. 

Liver  Disease 

Caused  by  lack  of  exercise,  overfeeding,  or  feeding 
too  rich  foods. 

Sanborn  mentions  as  early  symptoms:  "Rough 
plumage,  watery  diarrhea,  first  brownish  then  yel- 
low ;  lack  of  appetite  and -indisposition  to  move.  The 
comb  may  be  purplish  at  first,  becoming  dark  and 
then  quite  black."  The  disease  may  be  diagnosed 
positively  only  by  a  post  mortem  examination,  when 
the  liver  will  be  found  enlarged  or  congested  or  mar- 
bled or  spotted. 

TREATMENT. — Make  the  mash  light  and  bulky; 
feed  green  and  vegetable  food  liberally ;  compel  exer- 
cise by  scratching.  Get  the  fowls  out  a  little  every 
day,  or  let  them  out  altogether  if  it  is  possible;  cor- 
rect any  sanitary  conditions  that  are  not  right.  Dan- 
delion tea  mixed  in  the  mash  is  a  valuable  medicine. 
Give  Epsom  salts  frequently. 

Crop  Bound 

The  walls  of  the  crop  may  be  over-distended  with 
dry  grain,  or,  as  more  often  happens,  the  lower  por- 
tion of  the  oesophagus  becomes  clogged  by  straws, 
grass,  feathers,  or  other  substances.  In  either  case 
the  crop  fails  to  empty  itself  while  the  bird  con- 
tinues to  eat.  The  real  cause  of  impacted  crop  prob- 
ably lies  in  low  vitality  due  to  improper  feeding  and 
indigestion. 

TREATMENT. — If  the  crop-bound  condition  is 
caused  by  swelled  grain,  the  bird  may  often  be 
treated  without  an  operation.  First  give  the  bird  a 
teaspoon  of  castor  oil.  After  allowing  this  a  little 
time  to  work  into  the  crop  begin  to  knead  the  hard 


174  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

mass.  After  this  has  been  softened  hold  the  bird 
head  downward  and  try  to  work  the  grain  out 
through  the  mouth.  If  this  does  not  succeed,  or  if  the 
impaction  is  due  to  straw,  it  will  be  necessary  to  open 
the  crop.  The  following  method  for  this  operation 
is  given  by  Sanborn,  "Farm  Poultry  Doctor" : 

"Pluck  out  a  few  feathers  and  then  cut  through  the 
skin  over  the  crop  a  line  about  one  inch  long.  Then 
make  an  incision  three-fourths  of  an  inch  long 
through  the  crop.  The  distention  of  the  crop  will 
cause  the  opening  to  gap,  and  the  mass  will  be  in 
plain  sight.  With  toothpicks,  tweezers  or  similar 
tools  take  out  the  contents  of  the  crop  and  make  sure 
that  there  is  nothing  remaining  to  obstruct  the  outlet 
to  the  organ.  To  close,  take  three  or  four  stitches 
in  the  opening  in  the  crop,  making  each  stitch  by 
itself  and  tying  a  knot  that  will  not  slip.  Then  do 
the  same  thing  to  the  cut  in  the  skin.  For  the  stitches 
use  white  silk  if  possible,  if  not,  No.  60  white  cotton 
will  do." 

Tuberculosis 

Tuberculosis  is  caused  by  a  minute  germ,  the  Bacil- 
lus tuberculosis  of  birds.  These  bacteria  gain  en- 
trance to  certain  portions  of  the  body  and  there 
multiply  in  vast  numbers,  causing  the  formation  of 
small  nodules  or  tubercles.  The  disease  is  highly 
contagious  and  is  spread  through  the  flock  by  con- 
tact of  healthy  birds  with  diseased  ones.  Avian 
tuberculosis  is  not  the  same  as  the  disease  which  at- 
tacks human  beings,  and  while  cases  have  been 
known  where  persons  have  apparently  taken  the  dis- 
ease from  birds,  it  is  believed  that  birds  rarely  if 
ever  take  it  from  human  beings. 

There  are  no  symptoms  by  which  the  disease  can 
be  recognized  till  it  reaches  an  advanced  stage. 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  175 

Emaciation  is  the  surest  symptom.  There  is  pallor 
of  the  comb  and  wattles,  general  weakness,  lameness, 
ruffling  of  the  feathers,  and  in  many  cases,  diarrhea. 
"When  combined  with  the  foregoing  you  notice  a 
bright  eye  and  a  ravenous  appetite,  you  may  have 
very  strong  suspicions."  If  a  post-mortem  reveals 
the  liver,  spleen,  and  intestines  "studded  with  white, 
cheesy  nodules  of  various  sizes,"  your  suspicions  will 
be  strengthened,  but  it  is  only  by  examination  of 
these  nodules  under  a  microscope  that  the  pathologist 
can  be  absolutely  sure  that  the  bacilli  are  present. 

TREATMENT. — When  tuberculosis  has  reached  a 
stage  where  it  can  be  diagnosed  there  is  no  longer 
any  cure.  Sick  birds  should  be  killed,  and  all  birds 
which  are  suspected  removed  from  the  flock.  Disin- 
fect houses,  runs,  feeding  troughs  and  water  vessels, 
using  cresol  disinfectant  or  a  carbolic  solution  on 
houses,  troughs  and  fountains,  and  lime  on  the 
ground.  If  many  birds  are  affected  it  may  be  neces- 
sary to  move  to  clean  ground.  Dr.  Salmon  says: 
"When  the  disease  is  discovered  the  effort  should  be 
to  eradicate  it  at  once  by  killing  off  the  whole  flock 
and  thoroughly  disinifecting  all  the  houses  and 
runs." 

Aspergillosis 

This  is  a  very  common  disease  and  is  caused  by 
eating  moldy  food  or  scratching  in  moldy  hay  or 
straw.  It  is  often  mistaken  for  tuberculosis  and  is 
a  frequent  cause  of  the  condition  known  as  "going 
light."  The  mold  spores  find  lodgment  on  the  mem- 
branes of  the  air  passages  and  grow  there,  causing 
inflammation  and  sometimes  abscesses. 

Salmon  gives  this  account  of  the  symptoms  of  the 
disease :  "In  the  early  stages  of  the  disease  no 
symptoms  are  noticed,  and  it  is  only  after  it  has  pro- 


176  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

pressed  considerably  that  these  become  apparent. 
The  affected  birds  do  not  follow  the  flock ;  they  are 
very  weak,  scarcely  able  to  stand,  and  consequently 
remain  by  themselves  and  move  about  very  little. 
They  remain  in  a  recumbent  position,  resting  upon 
the  sternum,  are  sleepy,  and,  if  forced  to  run,  soon 
fall  from  exhaustion.  The  plumage  is  dull  and 
rough,  the  wings  are  pendant,  the  eyelids  partly 
closed,  the  head  depressed.  Respiration  is  quickened, 
and  accompanied  by  a  rattling  or  snoring  sound,  and 
becomes  difficult  and  labored,  the  bird  opening  its 
beak  from  time  to  time  to  take  a  long  inspiration. 
There  is  fever  and  thirst  and  little  appetite.  There 
is  more  or  less  catarrh  of  the  trachea  and  bronchi, 
with  emaciation  and  diarrhea  leading  to  death  from 
exhaustion  in  from  one  to  eight  weeks." 

TREATMENT. — No  cure  is  known,  and  it  is  there- 
fore obviously  important  that  all  grain  and  scratch- 
ing litter  be  absolutely  clean. 

Young  chicks  are  even  more  susceptible  to  asper- 
gillosis  than  adult  stock,  and  no  pains  should  be 
spared  to  make  sure  that  their  food  and  litter  are 
free  from  mold. 

Catarrh 

Catarrh  is  simply  a  cold  in  the  air  passages  and 
is  not  contagious.  It  is  caused  by  exposure  to  cold 
or  storms  or  by  drafts  in  the  roosting  house. 

SYMPTOMS. — The  birds  are  dull,  they  sneeze,  and 
breathing  is  obstructed.  Soon  there  appears  a 
watery  discharge  which  gradually  becomes  thicker; 
the  eyes  are  watery,  the  eyelids  swollen  and  some- 
times stuck  together.  Catarrh  is  very  like  the  first 
stages  of  roup,  and  it  is  impossible  in  many  cases  to 
distinguish  between  the  two. 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  177 

TREATMENT. — Removal  of  the  cause  will  usually 

effect  a  cure.     Dr.  Salmon  recommends  this  tonic: 

Gentian  root 4  drams. 

Ginger 4  drams 

Sulphate  of  iron 2  drams 

Hyposulphite  of  sodium 1  dram 

Salicylate  of  sodium 1  dram 

Pulverize  and  mix  thoroughly  and  give  three  to 

four  grains  a  day  for  a  medium-sized  fowl. 

In  severe  cases  the  eyes,  mouth  and  nostrils  may 

be  washed  twice  a  day  with  one  of  the  following 

solutions : 

1.  Boracic  acid,  3  per  cent  solution. 

2.  Creolin,  1  per  cent  solution. 

3.  Carbolic  acid,  2  per  cent  solution. 
Hydrogen  peroxide  and  witch  hazel  are  also  good. 

Bronchitis 

The  symptoms  of  bronchitis  are  the  symptoms  of  a 
hard  cold,  with  rapid  breathing  and  cough.  It  may 
be  distinguished  from  simple  catarrh  by  the 
whistling  sounds  or  rattling  made  in  breathing. 
When  the  disease  is  neglected  these  symptoms  may 
become  chronic.  In  very  severe  cases  the  bird  be- 
comes dull,  breathing  is  increasingly  difficult  and  the 
bird  finally  dies. 

TREATMENT. — Place  in  a  warm,  dry,  well-venti- 
lated room,  feed  bread  or  middlings  moistened  with 
milk,  and  add  to  this  food  two  grains  of  black  anti- 
mony twice  a  day.  Salmon  recommends  giving  ten 
drops  of  turpentine  in  a  teaspoon  of  castor  oil  and  re- 
peating the  dose  after  five  or  six  hours.  In  very  se- 
vere cases  give  from  three  to  six  drops  of  either  the 
syrup  or  the  wine  of  ipecac. 


178  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

Roup 

Roup  occurs  in  many  forms.  It  may  affect  the 
head,  the  eyes  or  the  throat,  but  there  is  in  all  cases 
great  depression  and  dullness,  with  a  putrid  odor 
which  is  characteristic  of  the  disease.  Where  there 
are  symptoms  of  a  cold  with  a  noticeable  odor  al- 
ways look  for  roup.  There  is  usually  a  discharge 
from  nostrils  or  eyes,  often  the  eyelids  are  stuck  to- 
gether or  swollen  shut,  and  in  many  cases  there  are 
abscesses  under  the  eyes  or  about  the  head. 

Harrison  and  Streit  thus  describe  the  special 
symptoms  of  roup:  "By  the  term  roup  we  under- 
stand a  more  or  less  putrid  discharge  from  the  nos- 
trils which  lasts  for  weeks  or  even  months.  The  dis- 
ease often  follows  a  common  cold,  to  which  fowls, 
especially  young  fowls  and  those  of  the  more  delicate 
breeds,  are  much  predisposed. 

"In  the  first  stages  of  roup  the  birds  often  cough 
or  sneeze,  and  the  breathing  is  noisy,  caused  by  the 
partial  closing  of  the  air  passages  which  become 
blocked  with  the  discharge  from  the  nostrils.  When 
the  air  passages  are  entirely  closed,  the  fowl  has  to 
open  its  beak  in  order  to  breathe. 

"Sometimes  a  yellowish  cheese-like  mass  forms  in 
the  nostrils,  growing  quickly  and  pressing  the  upper 
walls  of  the  nose  upwards ;  if  this  mass  is  removed, 
an  uneven  bleeding  surface  is  left  which  forms  a  new 
cheesy  mass  in  from  24  to  48  hours. 

"In  more  serious  cases  the  face  of  the  roupy  bird  is 
swollen,  especially  between  the  eyes  and  nostrils, 
and  this  swelling,  which  is  hot  and  sore,  sometimes 
grows  into  a  tumor  as  large  as  a  walnut.  Sometimes 
the  tumor  grows  inside  the  nostril  and  forces  the 
roof  of  the  mouth  downward." 

In  "roup  of  the  eyes"  there  is  inflammation  of  the 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  179 

eyelids,  followed  by  the  secretion  of  a  liquid  which  is 
first  clear,  then  gray  and  slimy.  This  either  dries  on 
the  feathers  or  becomes  a  yellowish  cheesy  mass  in 
the  eye-socket. 

Combined  with  the  above  symptoms  there  are 
often  patches  of  a  grayish  yellow  exudation  firmly 
adhering  to  the  mouth  and  throat.  These  are  called 
false  membranes,  and  when  they  are  seen  the  disease 
is  called  diphtheretic  roup,  which  is  the  most  serious 
of  all. 

TREATMENT. — The  only  effective  treatment  is 
prevention.  Housing  in  open-front  houses,  avoiding 
drafts  by  carefully  closing  all  cracks  and  knot-holes 
about  the  roosts,  keeping  houses  sanitary  and  feed 
clean  and  wholesome,  taking  care  to  avoid  contagion ; 
and  above  all,  breeding  only  from  vigorous  birds, 
and  especially  from  birds  which  have  never  had  roup, 
will  soon  do  away  with  all  fear  of  the  disease.  I 
have  not  seen  a  case  in  three  years,  and  I  am  satis- 
fied that  attention  to  the  simple  rules  of  sanitation 
and  hygiene  is  a  sure  preventive. 

Especially  important  is  it  that  the  ground  on 
which  poultry  houses  stand  should  be  well  drained 
and  that  houses  should  be  dry  and  sunny. 

For  those  that  feel  they  must  treat  roup,  the  potas- 
sium permanganate  treatment  is  as  good  as  any  and 
easier  than  most:  Press  the  nostrils  together 
between  thumb  and  forefinger  two  or  three  times  in 
the  direction  of  the  beak,  and  press  upward  between 
nostrils  and  eyes  to  loosen  the  discharge,  then  plunge 
the  bird's  head  twenty  or  thirty  seconds  in  a  one  to 
two  per  cent  solution  of  permanganate  of  potash. 
Give  this  treatment  twice  a  day  till  all  symptoms 
have  disappeared. 

"Roup  of  the  eyes"  is  successfully  treated  by 
syringing  the  nasal  cavities  with  boracic  acid  and 


180  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

camomile,  or  by  washing  out  the  nostril  with  a 
two  and  one-half  per  cent  solution  of  creolin  and 
glycerine.  "If  there  are  solid  tumors  in  the  eyelids, 
they  should  be  opened  so  that  the  skin  may  bleed 
freely.  The  cheesy  matter  should  be  removed  and 
the  surrounding  membrane  touched  with  a  five  per 
cent  carbolic  or  silver  nitrate  solution,  and  then  a 
cotton  plug  put  in  to  prevent  the  cavity  from  healing 
too  quickly." — Harrison  &  Streit. 

Sanborn  "Reliable  Poultry  Remedies"  recom- 
mends spraying  the  nasal  passages  and  the  mouth 
with  the  following  solution : 

Extract  of  witch-hazel,  4  tablespoons. 

Liquid  carbolic  acid,  3  drops. 

Water,  2  tablespoons. 

Canker 

Canker  sores  in  or  about  the  mouth  are  caused  by 
some  injury  to  the  mucous  membrane  and  are  most 
common  in  male  birds  which  have  been  fighting. 
Apply  undiluted  creolin  with  a  cotton  swab  or  wash 
the  sores  with  equal  parts  of  hydrogen  peroxide 
and  water. 

Chicken  Pox 

Chicken  pox,  or  bird  pox,  originates  entirely  by 
contagion.  It  is  generally  introduced  into  the  flock 
by  new  birds  or  by  exhibition  birds  which  are 
infected  at  shows.  Sometimes  it  is  carried  by 
pigeons  or  sparrows. 

Salmon  says:  "The  eruption  appears  as  round, 
oblong  or  irregularly  shaped  nodules  from  the  size 
of  a  pinhead  to  that  of  a  pea  or  hazelnut.  They  are 
seen  especially  about  the  beak  and  nostrils  and  on 
the  comb,  eyelids,  wattles  and  ear  lobes.  In  some 
individuals,  and  particularly  in  pigeons,  the  eruption 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  181 

is  more  generalized,  and  is  found  on  the  skin  of  other 
parts  of  the  body. 

"The  nodules  begin  as  small,  red  or  reddish-gray 
deposits  with  a  shiny  surface  and  gradually  enlarge, 
while  the  color  changes  to  a  yellowish,  brownish  or 
dark  brown,  and  the  surface  dries  and  becomes 
shriveled,  uneven  and  warty  in  appearance.  Owing 
to  the  number  of  nodules  and  the  extension  of  the 
inflammation,  large  patches  of  skin  become  thickened 
and  covered  with  hard,  dry  crusts,  closing  the  nasal 
openings  or  the  eyelids  and  making  it  difficult  even 
to  open  the  beak. 

"In  the  most  severe  cases,  especially  with  pigeons, 
the  eruption  extends  to  the  mucous  membrane  of  the 
eyes,  nostrils  and  mouth,  causing  a  diphtheretic  in- 
flammation that  is  generally  fatal." 

TREATMENT. — The  simplest  way  of  treating  this 
disease  is  to  pull  off  the  scabs  from  the  sores  and 
touch  the  spots  with  clear  creolin  on  a  brush  or 
feather.  Salmon  recommends  softening  the  scabs 
first  with  vaseline  or  glycerine,  then  washing  with 
warm,  soapy  water  till  they  come  off  easily.  Then 
touch  with  a  two  per  cent  solution  of  creolin  or  a 
saturated  solution  of  boric  acid.  If  there  is  much 
inflammation  of  the  eyes,  make  a  solution  of  one  and 
one-half  ounces  boric  acid  and  one  ounce  biborate  of 
soda  in  a  quart  of  warm  water,  and  drop  in  the  eyes 
frequently. 

In  addition  to  the  external  treatment,  Dr.  Sanborn 
advises  calcium  sulphide,  one  grain  per  day  for  each 
fowl,  mixed  in  the  wet  mash.  This,  he  says,  will 
shorten  the  time  of  the  disease  and  prevent  birds 
that  do  not  yet  show  symptoms  from  taking  it. 

"Going  Light" 
"Going  Light"  is  a  condition  rather  than  a  disease. 


182  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

Sometimes  a  fowl,  for  no  apparent  reason,  and  with 
no  other  symptoms  of  disease,  loses  weight  till  it  is 
hardly  more  than  a  skeleton.  Sometimes  this  condi- 
tion is  a  symptom  of  tuberculosis,  and  sometimes  of 
aspergillosis ;  sometimes  it  is  due  to  intestinal  worms 
and  sometimes  to  lice  or  mites.  It  may  also  be  due 
to  lack  of  sufficient  nourishing  food  or  to  poor  diges- 
tion. Whatever  the  cause,  the  poultry  keeper  must 
find  out  what  it  is  and  remedy  it. 

Limberneck 

"Limberneck"  and  "wryneck"  are  terms  which  are 
often  confused.  In  limberneck  the  muscles  of  the 
neck  are  paralyzed  so  that  the  bird  cannot  raise  its 
head.  In  wryneck  the  neck  is  twisted  till  the  head  is 
sometimes  turned  almost  entirely  around.  Limber- 
neck  is  caused  by  indigestion  or  the  eating  of  moldy 
grain  or  putrid  meat,  but  wryneck  is  considered  a 
sort  of  epileptic  or  nervous  disease. 

Limberneck  can  often  be  relieved  by  a  good  dose 
of  physic.  Dr.  Salmon  prescribes  fifty  or  sixty 
grains  of  Epsom  salts  or  three  or  four  teaspoons  of 
castor  oil  for  an  adult  bird.  Director  Quisenberry 
in  "The  Poultryman's  Guide"  recommends  for  small 
chicks  a  dose  of  from  two  to  ten  drops  of  oil  of  tur- 
pentine mixed  with  an  equal  quantity  of  sweet  oil, 
followed  at  intervals  of  from  one  to  two  hours  by  a 
teaspoon  or  less  of  ginger  tea.  This  tea  is  made  by 
mixing  one  teaspoon  of  ginger  with  half  a  cup  of 
hot  milk  and  sweetening  a  little  with  sugar.  Adult 
fowls  may  have  from  one  to  two  teaspoons  at  a  dose. 
When  the  birds  begin  to  improve,  let  their  first  meal 
be  a  little  boiled  rice. 

Rheumatism 
This  disease  is  an  inflammation  of  the  connective 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  183 

tissues  of  the  muscles  and  joints,  and  is  caused  by 
exposure  to  cold  and  dampness.  The  only  treatment 
is  prevention  by  keeping  the  fowls  in  dry,  well- 
ventilated  houses  and  on  well-drained  soil. 

Scaly  Leg 

This  disease  is  caused  by  a  tiny  mite  which  bur- 
rows under  the  scales  of  the  leg,  raising  the  scales 
and  forming  a  powdery  or  spongy  substance  beneath 
them.  It  is  due  to  filthy  yards  and  houses,  but  when 
once  introduced  into  a  flock  is  passed  from  bird  to 
bird. 

TREATMENT. — A  number  of  ointments  and  oils 
have  been  used  successfully.  Before  using  any  of 
them  the  legs  should  be  well  brushed  with  warm, 
soapy  water.  If  they  can  be  soaked  for  a  short  time 
the  scales  will  come  off  more  easily.  When  as  many 
of  the  scales  have  been  removed  as  can  be  taken  off 
without  drawing  blood,  use  one  of  the  following : 

1.  Balsam  of  Peru. 

2.  One  part  oil  of  caraway  mixed  with  five  parts 
vaseline. 

3.  One  part  kerosene   and  two   parts   raw   lin- 
seed oil. 

When  many  fowls  are  to  be  treated,  an  easy 
method  which  is  recommended  by  Robinson  is :  Fill 
a  quart  measure  with  the  kerosene  and  linseed  oil 
mixture,  go  to  the  henhouse  at  night  and  dip  both 
legs  of  each  infected  bird  in  the  liquid,  holding  them 
there  for  a  moment,  and  then  allowing  them  to  drip 
before  replacing  them  on  the  roost. 

If  care  is  taken  to  keep  infected  birds  out  of  the 
flock  this  disease  need  never  occur. 

Depluming  Scabies 
The  depluming  mite  is  the  cause  of  a  sort  of  skin 


184  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

disease  in  fowls  which  causes  the  feathers  to  break 
off  at  the  surface  of  the  skin.  It  usually  begins  at 
the  rump  and  spreads  to  the  head  and  neck,  back, 
thigh  and  breast.  Around  the  stumps  of  the  lost 
feathers  and  at  the  end  of  the  quills  of  feathers  near 
the  bare  spots  are  masses  of  epidermal  scales. 
Feather  eating  and  feather  pulling  are  often  due  to 
the  presence  of  this  parasite.  The  introduction  of 
one  infected  bird  into  a  flock  will  soon  cause  the 
whole  flock  to  become  infected. 

TREATMENTS. — The  ointments  used  for  scaly  leg 
may  be  used  for  the  depluming  mite.  Salmon  also 
advises  the  following : 

Flowers  of  sulphur 1  dram 

Carbonate  of  potash 20  grains 

Lard  or  vaseline %  ounce 

The  application  should  be  repeated  every  four  or 
five  days  till  the  disease  is  cured. 

White  Diarrhea 

It  has  been  the  fashion  to  speak  of  white  diarrhea 
as  a  sort  of  bugaboo  which  is  lying  in  wait  for  every 
chick  and  which  only  the  most  fortunate  escape.  All 
this  is  pure  nonsense.  The  well-hatched,  well-bred 
chick  which  is  kept  warm  and  reasonably  well  fed 
has  just  as  many  chances  of  surviving  as  any  other 
young  animal.  The  trouble  is  that  when  large  num- 
bers of  chicks  are  artificially  hatched  and  artificially 
brooded  they  are  often  not  well  hatched  and  still 
more  often  not  kept  warm.  Overheating  before 
hatching  or  chilling  after  hatching  weakens  the  con- 
stitution, and  especially  the  digestion.  A  sort  of 
diarrhea  ensues,  which  is  not  white  diarrhea, 
though  it  is  often  erroneously  so  called,  the  chick  is 
"pasted  up  behind,"  droops  for  a  few  days,  and 
usually  dies. 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  185 

The  real  white  diarrhea  is  an  infectious  disease, 
Bacterium  pullorum,  and  usually  comes  from  an 
infected  egg  which  was  laid  by  an  infected  hen. 
Prevention  should  therefore  begin  with  the  hatching 
egg.  Dr.  Salmon  says : 

"If  eggs  are  purchased  they  should  only  be  ac- 
cepted from  flocks  known  to  be  healthy,  and  the 
eggs  of  which  give  rise  to  healthy  chicks.  If  this 
assurance  cannot  be  obtained,  it  is  better  to  produce 
the  eggs  needed  for  hatching  on  the  home  farm  and 
from  hens  that  are  known  to  be  free  from  infection. 

"Having  obtained  the  eggs,  they  should  be  kept 
until  ready  for  incubation  in  a  dry,  moderately  cool 
place,  so  spread  out  that  the  air  can  circulate  over 
them  and  carry  away  the  moisture  which  they 
exhale.  Before  putting  them  into  the  incubator  or 
under  the  hen  they  should  be  wiped  with  a  cloth  wet 
in  grain  alcohol  of  seventy  to  eighty  per  cent 
strength  to  remove  any  germs  that  might  be  on  the 
surface  of  the  shell.  The  hens  used  for  hatching 
should  be  free  from  all  infection  and  the  incubator 
should  be  thoroughly  cleaned.  If  there  have  been 
any  sick  chicks  in  it,  it  should  be  disinfected  by 
washing  with  compound  solution  of  cresol  (five  per 
cent  solution).  The  same  precautions  should  be 
adopted  in  regard  to  the  brooder." 

White  diarrhea  may  usually  be  diagnosed  by  the 
characteristic  white  or  creamy  discharge  from  the 
vent  and  by  the  chick's  behavior.  Sometimes  a  chick 
that  has  been  chilled  will  "paste  up  behind"  with  a 
brownish  discharge,  but  remains  as  lively  as  ever. 
This  is  not  white  diarrhea.  In  Bulletin  68  of  the 
Connecticut  Experiment  Station,  by  Professors 
Rettger  and  Stoneburn,  the  white  diarrhea  chick  is 
thus  described: 

"The  chicks  soon  become  listless  and  sleepy,  in- 


186  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

clined  to  huddle  together  and  remain  under  the  hover 
most  of  the  time.  They  seem  to  lose  appetite  and  do 
not  eat  much.  The  wings  begin  to  droop  or  project 
slightly  from  the  body,  with  feathers  ruffled.  Many 
of  the  chicks  peep  or  chirp  constantly,  the  sound 
being  shrill  or  weak,  according  to  the  strength  of  the 
individual." 

Dr.  Rettger  says  it  is  only  during  the  first  forty- 
eight  hours  that  the  chick  can  be  infected,  hence  the 
greatest  care  should  be  taken  during  those  first  two 
days.  Incubators  should  be  disinfected  with  the 
greatest  care  between  hatches.  Any  good  disin- 
fectant, such  as  creolin,  Zenoleum,  or  a  carbolic 
solution,  is  sufficient.  Kerosene,  of  course,  must 
never  be  used  about  an  incubator.  Brooders  also 
should  be  disinfected  before  a  new  brood  is  put  in. 
No  hen  should  be  used  for  hatching  or  brooding  that 
is  not  perfectly  healthy  and  vigorous  or  that  shows 
any  sign  of  diarrhea. 

TREATMENT. — When  a  chick  is  "pasted  up,"  the 
excrement  should  be  carefully  removed  and  the  vent 
greased  with  vaseline.  If  faulty  brooding  is  the 
cause,  remedy  this  at  once  and  you  may  save  the 
chick.  Boiled  rice  with  cinnamon  and  scalded  milk 
with  a  little  grated  nutmeg  instead  of  the  regular 
diet  are  recommended,  and  sour  milk  or  buttermilk 
are  the  best  of  remedies ;  but  a  chick  with  real  white 
diarrhea  will  not  eat  much,  so  the  treatment  must 
be  mainly  preventive.  Rettger  and  Stoneburn  give 
the  following  on  preventing  white  diarrhea: 

"Since  the  disease  cannot  apparently  be  trans- 
mitted through  the  food  supply  after  the  chicks  have 
reached  the  age  of  three  or  four  days,  every  means 
should  be  taken  to  prevent  the  spread  of  the  infection 
during  this  critical  period.  We  suggest : 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  187 

"The  segregation  of  chicks  in  small  lots  during 
this  interval. 

"Perfect  disinfection  and  cleanliness  of  brooders 
and  brooder  coops. 

"Food  and  water  supplied  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
prevent  contagion  by  the  droppings. 

"The  use  in  the  brooder  of  a  liberal  amount  of 
fine,  absorptive  litter  which  will  quickly  cover  and 
seal  up  the  droppings. 

"Raise  and  maintain  the  vigor  and  vitality  of  the 
breeding  stock  and  chicks  by  every  reasonable  means 
known  to  the  poultryman." 

Gapes 

Gapes  is  a  disease  which  frequently  attacks  young 
chicks,  especially  on  old  ground,  and  is  caused  by 
minute  parasitical  worms  in  the  trachea  or  wind- 
pipe. The  disease  is  thus  described  by  Woods  in 
"Reliable  Poultry  Remedies":  "The  symptoms  of 
gapes  are  frequent  gaping,  sneezing,  a  whistling 
cough  with  discharge  of  mucus  and  worms,  dump- 
ishness,  weakness  and  drooping  wings."  The  only 
sure  cure  is  to  extract  the  worms  from  the  wind- 
pipe with  a  gape  worm  extractor  or  a  loop  of  horse- 
hair or  fine  wire,  though  good  results  have  been  re- 
ported from  medicating  drinking  water  with  fifteen 
grains  of  salicylic  acid  or  three  drams  of  salicylate 
of  soda  to  the  quart  of  water. 

Reliance  must  be  placed  chiefly  on  prevention. 
Whenever  cases  of  gapes  occur  in  a  flock,  all  chicks 
should  be  moved  to  clean  new  soil — indeed,  young 
chicks  ought  always  to  be  upon  soil  which  has  had 
at  least  a  year  of  purification  by  some  green  crop 
since  fowls  were  last  upon  it.  No  soil  on  which 
gapes  has  been  known  is  safe  for  several  years  after. 
Salmon  says  the  eggs  of  this  worm  live  a  long  time 


188  POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT 

in  the  soil  and  are  sometimes  taken  into  the  digestive 
tube  of  earthworms.  In  badly  infested  soil  the  earth- 
worms may,  if  eaten,  cause  gapes  in  the  chicks. 

As  soon  as  the  disease  appears  all  affected  birds 
should  be  isolated,  and  those  which  die  should  be 
burned.  Feed  troughs  and  water  dishes  should  be 
scalded  and  houses  and  coops  disinfected.  Use  potas- 
sium permanganate  in  the  drinking  water. 

To  extract  the  worms  from  the  trachea,  pass  the 
extractor  carefully  down  the  trachea  for  some  dis- 
tance, holding  the  chick's  head  well  back,  and  turn 
it  around  to  loosen  the  worms.  If  there  are  worms, 
some  will  be  removed  with  the  extractor.  If  from 
four  to  ten  worms  are  extracted  a  cure  may  be 
counted  on,  though  as  many  as  thirty  worms  have 
been  extracted  from  one  chicken. 

Worms 

Worms  in  small  numbers  are  said  to  inhabit  the 
digestive  organs  of  all  fowls,  and  when  they  are  not 
too  numerous  do  no  perceptible  harm.  Under  cer- 
tain conditions  they  are  supposed  to  develop  too 
rapidly,  and  then  we  have  the  disease  known  as 
"worms."  This  is  one  theory,  and  no  one  seems  to 
have  a  better  one.  Without  question  worms  are  often 
found  in  the  intestines  of  fowls,  and  without  ques- 
tion they  affect  the  health.  In  recent  years  a  number 
of  poultry  plants  have  been  put  out  of  business  by 
epidemics  of  worms,  so  it  behooves  every  poultry- 
keeper  to  watch  for  symptoms,  to  treat  cases  that 
occur,  and  to  prevent  infection  as  much  as  possible. 

Three  species  of  worms  are  known  to  infect  the 
digestive  organs  of  poultry:  Tape  worms,  round 
worms  and  flukes.  The  tape  worm  is  a  long,  flat, 
segmented  worm  like  those  which  infest  man  and 
other  animals ;  the  round  worm  is  white  and,  as  the 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  189 

name  indicates,  round,  and  varies  in  length  from  one- 
third  of  an  inch  to  five  inches;  the  fluke  is  small, 
flat,  and  usually  oval  in  shape. 

For  tape  worm  Salmon  recommends  a  teaspoon 
of  powdered  pomegranate  root  mixed  in  the  mash 
for  every  fifty  birds.  Follow  this  with  a  dose  of 
castor  oil  for  individual  birds,  or  Epsom  salts  in  the 
mash.  Powdered  areca  nut  in  doses  of  thirty  to 
forty-five  grains,  mixed  with  butter  and  made  into 
pills;  male  fern  in  the  form  of  powder  (dose,  thirty 
grains  to  one  dram) ,  or  of  liquid  extract  (dose,  fif- 
teen to  thirty  drops),  and  give  morning  and  evening 
before  feeding;  and  oil  of  turpentine  (one  to  three 
teaspoons)  forced  through  a  small,  flexible  catheter 
that  has  been  oiled  and  passed  through  the  mouth 
and  aesophagus  to  the  crop,  are  all  effective  remedies 
for  tape  worm.  A  dose  of  Epsom  salts  or  castor  oil 
should  follow  each.  Areca  nut  and  male  fern  are 
said  to  produce  bad  effects  when  given  to  turkeys. 

For  round  worms  Salmon  prescribes  thymol  (one 
grain  made  into  a  pill  with  bread  and  butter  to  each 
fowl)  or  santonica  (worm  seed)  in  doses  of  seven  or 
eight  grains.  A  purge  should  follow  each. 

Turpentine  is  a  time-honored  remedy  for  worms. 
When  many  birds  are  affected,  give  a  tablespoon  to  a 
gallon  of  drinking  water  and  a  teaspoon  to  a  quart 
of  moist  mash. 

Pumpkin  seeds,  chopped  or  ground,  and  chopped 
garlic  bulbs  are  both  excellent  remedies.  The  birds 
should  fast  12  hours  or  more  before  any  treatment 
is  given. 

Leg  Weakness 

This  term  is  sometimes  used  to  indicate  lameness 
due  to  rheumatism  in  adult  birds,  but  it  more  often 
refers  to  a  disease  in  young  chickens  that  have  been 
raised  in  brooders. 


190  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

The  affected  chickens  first  walk  unsteadily,  finally 
they  tumble  over  and  seem  unable  to  stand  alone. 
Then  they  grow  weak,  fail  to  feather  out  properly 
and  are  most  unhappy  objects. 

Treatment  consists  mainly  in  removing  the  cause, 
which  is  lack  of  exercise  and  overfeeding  with  fat- 
producing  foods.  Chickens  on  range  are  never  trou- 
bled in  this  way.  Put  the  chicks,  if  possible,  where 
they  can  have  range.  If  this  cannot  be  done,  give 
them  deep  litter  and  make  them  scratch  for  their 
grain.  Feed  plenty  of  green  food,  skim  milk,  wheat, 
bran  and  oatmeal.  Cut  out  corn  and  corn  meal.  San- 
born  recommends  rubbing  the  legs  with  tincture  of 
arnica  and  adding  one-half  teaspoon  of  tincture  of 
nux  vomica  to  each  quart  of  drinking  water. 

Bumblefoot 

Jumping  from  too  high  a  perch  onto  a  hard  floor 
often  produces  a  bruise  on  the  bottom  of  the  foot, 
especially  of  a  heavy  hen.  These  bruises  sometimes 
swell  and  become  abscesses,  and  there  is  fever,  dull- 
ness and  pain.  The  cavity  should  be  opened  and 
washed  out  with  carbolized  water  or  some  other  good 
disinfectant.  Then  apply  a  healing  ointment  or 
paint  the  surface  of  the  cavity  with  a  solution  of 
nitrate  of  silver,  bandaging  carefully  to  keep  the 
dirt  out.  I  have  found  soaking  the  foot  twice  a  day 
in  warm  witch  hazel  an  effective  remedy  for  these 
bruises.  If  care  is  taken  not  to  make  the  perches 
more  than  two  or  two  and  a  half  feet  from  the  floor 
for  heavy  hens,  and  two  or  three  inches  wide,  there 
will  be  little  trouble  of  this  sort. 

Diseases  of  the  Oviduct 

Diseases  of  the  oviduct  are  quite  common  and 
more  difficult  than  other  diseases  to  prevent  and 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  191 

treat,  since  the  causes  are  not  so  clearly  understood. 
On  the  other  hand,  since  they  are  in  many  cases 
local,  instead  of  constitutional,  a  cure,  when  effected, 
is  more  likely  to  be  permanent. 

Dr.  Pearl  says:  "The  general  symptoms  of  the 
commoner  diseases  of  the  oviduct  are  very  much  like 
those  of  constipation.  The  poultryman  watching  his 
birds  is  indeed  rather  likely  to  confuse  the  two.  But 
if  so  no  harm  is  done.  The  thorough  cleaning  out  of 
the  alimentary  tract  and  stimulation  of  the  liver  in- 
dicated in  the  treatment  of  constipation  is  the  very 
best  thing  to  be  done  in  cases  of  inflammation  and 
similar  disorders  of  the  oviduct." 

Four  diseases  of  the  oviduct  demand  considera- 
tion: 

1.  INFLAMMATION  OF  THE  OVIDUCT. — This  is  one 
of  the  most  important  and  common  of  this  class  of 
diseases.  It  is  caused  sometimes  by  irritation  due  to 
too  frequent  laying  or  too  stimulating  foods;  some- 
times by  the  laying  of  too  large  eggs  or  the  breaking 
of  eggs  within  the  oviduct;  sometimes  by  infection 
of  the  lining  membranes  of  the  oviduct. 

Hill  "Diseases  of  Poultry"  gives  the  following 
symptoms:  "A  bird  affected  with  inflammation  of 
the  egg  passage  suffers  acutely.  At  first  there  is  a 
continual  and  violent  straining  (sometimes  result- 
ing in  apoplexy).  The  wings  are  drooped  and  the 
feathers  puffed  out.  The  vent  is  hot.  As  the  inflam- 
mation proceeds  the  bird  becomes  more  and  more 
mopish  and  exhausted,  but  does  not  strain  so  vio- 
lently. Ultimately  the  temperature  becomes  lower, 
the  body  cold,  and  with  a  few  convulsive  gasps  the 
sufferer  dies." 

Treatment  must  be  early  if  it  is  to  be  successful. 
Give  a  purgative  dose  of  Epsom  salts  (half  a  tea- 
spoon for  a  full-grown  fowl)  and  follow  with  one- 


192  POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT 

half  drop  of  tincture  of  aconite  root  or  a  one-tenth 
grain  aconite  root  tablet  three  times  a  day.  All  stim- 
ulating foods  and  condiments  should  be  cut  out  of  the 
diet  at  once,  and  a  light  ration  with  plenty  of  green 
food  given. 

2.  PROLAPSE  OF  THE  OVIDUCT. — "If  there  is  a 
mass  of  red  or  bloody  tissue  projecting  from  the 
vent,  one  is  safe  in  diagnosing  prolapsus."  This  is 
caused  by  straining  to  lay  a  very  large  egg,  by  strain- 
ing to  lay  when  there  is  an  obstruction  in  the  ovi- 
duct, by  constipation,  or  by  a  lump  of  feces  lodged 
in  a  blind  pocket  of  the  cloaca. 

TREATMENT. — There  is  nothing  to  be  done, 
when  such  a  condition  is  noted,  but  to  remove  the 
cause,  if  this  is  possible,  and  to  replace  the  prolapsed 
tissue.  Dr.  Pearl  gives  these  directions: 

"If  the  bird  is  constipated  give  it  a  rectal  enema 
of  warm,  soapy  water,  followed  by  one-quarter  tea- 
spoon of  Epsom  salts  by  the  mouth.  If  there  is  a 
lump  of  feces  lodged  in  the  cloaca  this  should  be 
carefully  removed.  The  protruding  mass  of  tissue 
should  be  washed  with  a  warm  l-to-1000  bichloride 
of  mercury  solution  or  a  warm  one-half  per  cent 
cresol  solution.  After  the  protruding  parts  are 
thoroughly  cleansed  they  should  be  well  greased  with 
vaseline.  Then  with  the  fingers  well  greased  an 
effort  should  be  made  to  replace  the  protruding  mass 
in  the  body.  In  doing  this  one  should  proceed  with 
the  greatest  gentleness.  In  most  cases,  with  care 
and  gentleness,  it  is  possible  to  reduce  the  prolapsus ; 
that  is,  to  get  the  extruded  tissue  back  into  the  body 
in  approximately  its  normal  position." 

In  order  to  insure  contraction  of  the  walls  of  the 
oviduct  so  as  to  hold  the  parts  in  place,  some  experts 
recommend  the  use  of  ergot,  but  Dr.  Pearl  holds  that 
ergot  is  too  violent  a  poison,  and  that  a  lump  of  ice 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  193 

in  the  cloaca  and  renewed  as  necessary  and  kept  for 
some  hours  may  yield  better  results.  The  bird 
should  be  kept  in  a  small  coop,  partly  darkened,  so 
that  it  will  be  as  quiet  as  possible  for  a  few  days. 

3.  OBSTRUCTION  OF  THE  OVIDUCT,  "EGG-BOUND". 
— This  is  the  commonest  of  all  abnormal  con- 
ditions of  the  oviduct,  and  is  caused  by  the  egg 
being  too  large  or  by  exhaustion  or  paralysis  of  the 
muscular  walls  of  the  oviduct.  A  hen  that  is  egg- 
bound  goes  often  to  the  nest,  but  is  unable  to  lay. 
She  becomes  restless  and  afterward  dull,  and  by 
pressure  of  the  finger  about  the  vent  the  egg  can  be 
felt.  Treatment  should  not  be  hasty,  for  sometimes 
the  hen  will  ultimately,  though  with  difficulty,  rid 
herself  of  the  egg.  When  there  is  no  doubt  that  she 
cannot  pass  it,  try : 

1.  Holding  the  hen  over  a  vessel  of  boiling  water 
to  help  relax  the  muscles. 

2.  If  this  does  not  work,  oil  the  vent  with  a 
feather,  after  the  hen  has  rested  for  an  hour,  and 
give  her  a  powder  composed  of  one  grain  of  calomel 
and  one-twelfth  grain  of  tartar  emetic.     This  can 
be  given  in  a  bread  pill.     If  this  acts  properly  the 
hen  will  improve  in  a  few  hours,  and  a  second  pow- 
der two  days  later  will  probably  complete  the  cure. 

3.  If  the  egg  can  be  seen  or  pushed  into  sight,  it 
may  easily  be  punctured  with  an  awl  or  a  large  darn- 
ing needle,  and  the  contents  removed.    In  such  case 
the  shell  must  be  carefully  removed,  bit  by  bit.     I 
have  performed  this  operation  more  than  once,  and 
it  is  very  easy. 

In  all  these  cases  the  bird  should  be  kept  quiet  and 
fed  a  light  ration  without  any  fat-forming  food,  but 
with  plenty  of  green  food. 

4.  RUPTURE  OF  THE  OVIDUCT. — It  sometimes  hap- 
pens when  the  oviduct  is  obstructed  or  inflamed  that 


194  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

its  walls  break  and  let  the  contents  escape  into  the 
abdominal  cavity.  These  cases  can  sometimes  be 
cured,  but  death  usually  results  in  a  few  days,  and 
it  is  not  considered  profitable  to  attempt  treatment. 
It  is  better  to  prevent  it  by  selecting  medium  sized 
eggs  for  hatching,  for  the  trouble  usually  arises 
from  a  hen's  trying  to  lay  an  egg  too  large  for  her 
size.  Select  breeders  that  are  of  good  size  and  wide 
bodied. 

Vent  Gleet 

"This  is  a  true  venereal  disease  in  poultry,"  says 
Dr.  Pearl.  "It  usually  begins  with  a  hen,  but  is 
transmitted  in  copulation  to  the  male  and  by  him  to 
other  birds  in  the  flock."  There  is  a  whitish  dis- 
charge from  the  vent  and  constant  effort  to  void 
excrement. 

Wright  outlines  this  treatment:  "Give  thirty 
grains  Epsom  salts,  and  twice  a  day  inject  first  a 
four  per  cent  solution  of  cocaine,  and  immediately 
afterwards  a  solution  of  nitrate  of  silver,  four  grains 
to  the  ounce.  The  fifth  day  commence  a  small  copaiba 
capsule  daily,  and  inject  acetate  of  lead,  one  dram  to 
the  pint.  Feed  rather  low  meanwhile  and  dust  sore 
places  with  iodoform  or  aristol.  If  not  well  after 
two  or  three  weeks,  kill  the  bird,  for  the  disease  is 
not  quite  free  from  danger;  if  the  operator  should 
touch  his  eyes  accidentally  before  he  has  cleansed 
his  hands,  the  result  might  be  a  most  violent  inflam- 
mation." 

Another  treatment,  recommended  by  Director 
Quisenberry,  consists  in  holding  the  diseased  bird  in 
a  pan  of  hot  water  which  contains  two  per  cent  of 
Zenoleum  or  Creolin.  After  the  inflamed  parts  are 
thoroughly  cleansed,  which  will  take  from  ten  to 
twenty  minutes,  inject  a  solution  of  permanganate 
of  potash  and  dust  with  iodoform. 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  195 

Air  Puff 

Air  blisters  often  show  themselves  in  young 
chicks.  The  skin  puffs  out  and  seems  like  a  bladder 
of  wind.  It  comes  on  the  abdomen,  sides  and  under 
the  wings  and  neck.  Prick  the  blisters  with  a  needle 
to  let  out  the  air.  Add  carbonate  of  iron,  alternated 
with  granulated  charcoal,  daily  in  the  food.  The  diet 
should  be  oatmeal  principally,  with  plenty  of  sharp 
grit  within  reach. 

VICES 

Fowls  sometimes  contract  annoying  habits,  which, 
while  they  are  often  due  to  lack  of  exercise  or  proper 
diet,  do  not  affect  the  health.  These  are  called  vices. 

Feather  Eating 

Feather  eating  among  fowls  is  due  to  a  lack  of 
animal  food,  to  body  lice  or  other  vermin,  or  to  con- 
finement in  small  quarters  where  there  is  no  oppor- 
tunity for  hunting  and  scratching. 

See  first  of  all  that  the  birds  are  free  from  lice, 
and  that  their  houses  are  not  infested  with  mites. 
Give  them  more  meat,  either  in  the  form  of  green 
cut  bone  or  in  a  well-cooked  mash,  with  vegetables, 
green  pepper  pods  and  a  little  linseed  meal.  A  little 
sulphur  in  the  mash  in  summer  is  good  for  them. 
Give  a  teacup  of  sulphur  once  a  week  in  the  mash 
for  twenty-five  hens.  If  possible,  give  free  range. 
Where  this  is  not  possible  dig  grain  into  the  ground 
for  them  to  scratch  out;  hang  up  heads  of  cabbage 
or  other  greens  for  them  to  peck  at,  and  give  plenty 
of  good,  clean  scratching  litter.  An  ointment  con- 
sisting of  a  teaspoon  of  extract  of  aloes  to  a  cup  of 
lard,  the  two  being  well  mixed,  rubbed  on  the  feath- 
ers around  where  the  bird  has  been  plucked,  will 
usually  put  an  end  to  the  trouble. 


196  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

Egg  Eating 

Egg  eating  is  usually  the  result  of  faulty  nest  con- 
struction whereby  the  eggs  are  allowed  to  roll  in 
front  of  the  hen.  A  nest  that  is  too  large  or  per- 
fectly flat,  or  that  for  any  reason  allows  the  eggs  to 
roll  out  from  under  the  hen,  encourages  egg  eating. 
Sometimes  an  egg  is  broken  in  the  nest,  and  the 
hens,  from  eating  the  broken  egg,  get  a  liking  for  the 
taste  of  egg  and  soon  find  that  they  can  break  them 
for  themselves.  Usually  the  darker  a  nest  is,  the 
less  danger  there  is  of  the  hens  getting  this  expen- 
sive habit,  and  it  can  usually  be  prevented  by  gather- 
ing the  eggs  as  soon  as  possible  after  they  are  laid. 

When  the  habit  is  once  formed  it  is  difficult  to 
break,  and  often  the  only  cure  is  to  eat  the  hen. 
Filling  an  egg  shell  with  a  mixture  of  cayenne  pep- 
per or  other  disagreeable  but  harmless  condiments 
or  drugs,  and  leaving  it  in  the  nest  for  the  hen  to 
taste,  will  sometimes  effect  a  cure.  Leaving  china 
eggs  in  the  nest  or  about  the  house  for  the  hens  to 
peck  at  is  also  discouraging.  Director  Quisenberry 
says:  "If  the  hen  persists  in  this  bad  habit,  trim 
the  point  of  her  beak  till  it  bleeds." 

Toe  Picking 

The  habit  of  picking  each  others'  toes  is  one  which 
White  Leghorn  chicks  which  are  closely  confined 
sometimes  develop.  Sometimes  this  indicates  lack 
of  animal  food,  and  it  is  well  to  give  extra  meat  in 
some  form  when  toe  picking  is  discovered.  The  use 
of  deep  scratching  litter  is  a  good  preventive,  and 
keeping  the  chicks  busy  is  another.  It  is  always 
necessary  to  remove  the  injured  chicks  from  the 
flock,  for  the  taste  of  blood  drives  the  flock  wild,  and 
they  will  soon  kill  the  chick  that  has  blood  about  it. 


CHAPTER    XI 

Turkeys 

The  turkey,  when  it  can  be  raised  successfully,  is 
perhaps  the  most  profitable  of  all  kinds  of  poultry. 
On  range  where  it  can  pick  up  its  food  it  costs  much 
less  to  feed  than  a  chicken,  and  prices  are  always 
high,  for  the  demand  always  exceeds  the  supply. 

THE  TURKEY  A  WILD  BIRD 

The  turkey,  it  must  never  be  forgotten,  is  not  a 
domestic  bird,  accustomed  by  centuries  of  artificial 
feeding  and  housing  to  eating  what  is  set  before  it 
and  being  thankful  if  it  happens  to  be  well  fed ;  it  is 
a  wild  bird  with  a  wild  bird's  ways.  It  is  its  nature 
to  pick  up  its  food,  here  a  bug,  there  a  grasshopper, 
a  weed  seed  or  a  nibble  of  grass — never  much  at  a 
time,  and  always  plenty  of  little  stones  and  animal 
food,  and  our  way  of  feeding — perhaps  I  should  say 
stuffing — fowls  is  absolute  destruction  to  this  deli- 
cate wild  creature.  There  is  no  doubt  in  my  mind, 
after  more  than  one  bitter  experience,  that  ninety- 
nine  out  of  every  hundred  turkeys  that  come  to  their 
death  die  from  overfeeding.  The  person  undertak- 
ing to  raise  turkeys  must  write  this  rule  on  the 
tablets  of  memory  and  never  for  a  moment  forget 
or  ignore  it — "Keep  them  hungry/'  And  this  means, 
not  merely  give  them  what  they  will  eat  up  clean, 
but  make  the  meal  so  small  that  they  will  be  always 
begging  for  more. 

In  matters  of  care  and  housing,  as  well  as  in  feed- 
ing, this  inherent  wildness  of  the  turkey  must  always 
be  considered.  The  turkey  is  naturally  a  forager, 


198  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

and  this  means  that  it  must  have  range  over  which 
to  forage.  Probably  one  difficulty  most  frequently 
encountered  here  in  California  is  that  most  peo- 
ple are  unable  to  give  their  turkeys  the  range 
they  need.  When  we  say  the  turkey  cannot  bear  con- 
finement, we  do  not  mean  that  it  will  thrive  if  it  is 
allowed  to  run  on  a  lot  or  two,  or  that  a  good-sized 
flock  will  have  range  enough  on  a  few  acres.  Range 
for  turkeys  means  land  enough  to  pick  up  their 
living  on  and  something  there  to  pick  up.  Five 
hundred  turkeys  to  forty  acres  is  the  lowest  estimate 
I  have  seen  of  the  land  actually  required  for  raising 
these  birds.  That  would  be  about  twelve  birds  to 
the  acre.  Is  it  any  wonder  people  who  try  to  raise 
a  flock  of  a  dozen  or  so  on  a  town  lot  do  not  succeed  ? 
I  have  raised  ten  fine  turkeys  this  summer  on  three 
lots,  but  they  have  eaten  up  the  lawn,  the  alfalfa 
patch  and  all  my  tomatoes. 

And  even  an  acre  to  twelve  birds  is  not  always 
enough,  for  there  is  a  good  deal  of  land  in  this  state 
that  would  not  support  six  birds  to  the  acre.  We 
have  the  rocky  hillsides,  to  be  sure,  which  make  a 
good  ranging  place  for  turkeys,  but  we  lack  the 
shady  woods  where  bugs  and  worms  grow  in  abun- 
dance, and  we  are  not  even  well  supplied  with  grass- 
hoppers. The  best  turkey  range  in  California  is  a 
field  of  newly  cut  wheat  or  oat  stubble. 

Again,  in  the  question  of  shelter  the  wildness  of 
the  turkey  asserts  itself.  Chickens  will  thrive  in  a 
well-ventilated  house ;  turkeys  must  have  the  big  out- 
doors for  their  bedroom,  the  sky  for  their  roof.  It 
is  a  question  whether  turkeys  need  a  roof  in  any 
part  of  the  United  States.  Certainly  they  need 
no  protection  in  California  except  perhaps  some 
shed  where  they  may  go  in  heavy  storms.  This  is 
adult  birds,  of  course.  Poults  need  to  be  well  pro- 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  199 

tected  at  first,  but  before  they  are  three  months  old 
mine  find  a  roosting  place  on  top  of  a  six-foot  fence, 
and  I  do  not  interfere  with  them.  Turkeys  that 
roost  out  will  rarely,  if  ever,  be  troubled  by  colds  or 
roup. 

HOW  TO  BEGIN 

A  prominent  breeder  has  said :  "The  best  way  to 
begin  with  turkeys  is  to  buy  a  trio  of  the  very  best 
birds  you  can  get.  If  you  cannot  afford  a  trio,  buy  a 
pair;  if  you  cannot  afford  a  pair,  buy  a  setting  of 
eggs."  This  is  all  right  if  you  already  know  how  to 
raise  turkeys  and  to  care  for  them.  If  you  do  not, 
buy  a  setting  of  eggs  from  ordinary  market  stock, 
hatch  them  under  your  own  hens  and  see  if  you  can 
raise  them.  You  will  learn  in  time,  and  if  you 
manage  to  raise  only  half  of  what  you  hatch  you  will 
be  paid  for  your  trouble. 

THE  BREEDING  STOCK 

The  first  thing  to  be  looked  for  in  purchasing 
breeding  birds  is  vigor.  If  this  is  important  with 
chickens  it  is  doubly  so  with  turkeys,  for  if  your 
breeding  stock  is  weak  you  will  be  certain  to  lose  a 
very  large  per  cent  of  your  young  stock.  Disregard 
of  the  rules  for  selecting  and  mating  to  secure  vigor 
is  said  to  be  the  cause  of  the  dread  disease,  black- 
head, which  has  destroyed  the  turkey  industry  in 
parts  of  the  east. 

Breeding  stock  should  be  well  matured,  strong, 
healthy  and  not  overfat.  Above  all  the  hens  and  the 
torn  should  not  be  related.  Skillful  breeders  can 
sometimes  line-breed  by  mating  sire  to  daughter  or 
son  to  mother  for  the  sake  of  securing  fancy  points, 
but  no  one  but  an  expert  should  ever  attempt  in- 
breeding. Vigor  invariably  suffers  if  this  is  done. 


200  POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT 

It  is  best  to  buy  a  new  torn  of  entirely  different  blood 
each  season. 

The  best  mating  is  that  of  a  two-year-old  hen  with 
a  yearling  cock,  or  vice  versa.  Some  breeders  prefer 
to  use  an  old  cock  with  pullets  because  the  pullets 
lay  more  eggs  than  hens,  but  two-year-old  hens  will 
have  larger,  stronger  poults.  A  turkey  is  not  fully 
mature  till  it  is  from  two  to  three  years  old,  and  a 
good  breeder  may  be  used  for  breeding  for  several 
seasons  after  it  has  become  mature. 

One  torn  will  take  care  of  from  eight  to  twelve 
hens  and  sometimes  suffices  for  fifteen  or  twenty. 

Size  is  of  prime  importance  in  breeding  stock,  for 
size  is  what  every  customer  wants  and  what  every 
judge  cuts  most  severely  on,  but  it  is  not  desirable 
that  breeding  birds  should  be  oversize,  for  a  forty- 
pound  bird  is  a  drug  on  the  market. 

Size  does  not  mean  weight;  it  means  frame.  In 
selecting  breeders  from  a  flock  of  young  birds,  pick 
the  tall,  rawboned,  rangy  ones.  They  may  be  little 
heavier  at  six  months  old  than  the  short,  chunky 
ones,  but  they  are  the  birds  that  will  put  on 
weight  later.  Fat  is  never  desirable  except  in  a  bird 
that  is  ready  for  market. 

In  breeding  for  size  select  a  female  that  is  tall  and 
rangy  with  a  deep,  long  body,  broad  back  and  full- 
rounded  breast,  and  mate  her  with  a  male  that  is 
fully  up  to  standard  weight.  Sometimes  good  re- 
sults can  be  secured  from  a  female  that  is  under 
weight,  but  it  is  never  safe  to  use  a  small  torn. 

It  is  poor  policy  to  sell  off  the  early-hatched  birds 
because  they  are  larger  at  Thanksgiving  time  and 
to  keep  the  late-hatched  birds  for  breeders.  Early- 
hatched  birds  are  almost  alway£  more  vigorous. 
Especially  unwise  is  it  to  use  a  late-hatched,  small- 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  201 

boned  torn  or  a  poorly  marked  one,  for  the  torn  is 
half  the  flock. 

Breeding  stock  should  never  be  allowed  to  get  fat. 
Infertility  is  almost  sure  to  result.  About  a  month 
before  the  birds  begin  to  lay,  which  is  usually  in 
February  or  March,  some  breeders  put  them  on 
"starvation  rations,"  a  diet  of  oats,  meat  and  vege- 
tables. It  is  also  important  that  breeding  birds  have 
range  with  plenty  of  grass.  Oats  and  wheat  are  the 
best  grains  for  breeders.  Ground  bone  given  once 
or  twice  a  week  mixed  with  bran  is  said  to  help 
fertility,  but  as  a  rule  turkey  eggs  are  fertile  except 
when  the  birds  are  too  fat. 

LAYING  AND  HATCHING 

A  turkey  hen  lays  from  two  to  four  clutches  of 
eggs,  with  from  twelve  to  twenty  eggs  in  a  clutch. 
It  is  customary  among  breeders  not  to  allow  the 
turkey  hen  to  sit  till  she  has  laid  two  litters.  The 
first  eggs  laid  are  hatched  by  chicken  hens,  which 
many  prefer  to  turkeys  because  of  their  quieter 
disposition,  but  the  turkeys  are  made  to  mother  them 
in  the  following  way : 

The  eggs  of  the  first  clutch  are  put  under  the 
chicken  hens  about  three  weeks  before  the  turkey 
hen  is  likely  to  become  broody  after  laying  her 
second  clutch.  As  it  takes  turkey  eggs  four  weeks 
to  hatch,  the  turkey  hen  will  have  a  week  in  which  to 
settle  down  on  the  nest  and  get  ready  for  the  poults. 

As  soon  as  the  turkey  shows  signs  of  broodiness 
she  is  carefully  removed  at  night  to  a  nest  that  has 
been  prepared  for  her  in  a  barrel.  The  barrel  may 
be  laid  on  its  side  and  fastened  firmly  in  place  or 
stood  on  end,  with  an  opening  cut  in  the  side  for  the 
bird  to  go  in  and  out.  Whichever  way  you  use  it, 
the  main  thing  is  to  make  the  nest  dark  by  covering 


202  POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT 

the  opening,  for  a  turkey  is  not  trained  to  sit  quite 
as  easily  as  a  hen  and  must  have  a  dark,  quiet  place. 
China  eggs  are  put  under  the  turkey,  and  after  a 
day  or  so  she  is  allowed  to  come  off  and  eat. 

When  the  poults  have  hatched  and  are  dried  off, 
two  or  three  are  put  under  her  at  night,  or  she  may 
be  given  part  of  the  eggs  to  hatch.  She  will  usually 
take  all  the  poults  and  mother  them  without  further 
trouble.  The  turkey  hen,  as  well  as  the  chicken  hen, 
should  be  thoroughly  dusted  with  lice  powder  so  that 
there  may  be  no  lice  when  the  poults  are  hatched. 

Some  breeders  allow  the  turkey  to  hatch  her  last 
clutch  of  eggs;  others  prefer  to  have  all  incubation 
done  by  chicken  hens.  A  turkey  can  cover  from 
sixteen  to  eighteen  eggs,  a  hen  from  eight  to  ten. 
Turkey  eggs  hatch  as  well  in  incubators  as  they  do 
under  hens,  but  raising  poults  in  brooders  is  rarely 
a  success.  When  the  incubator  is  used  for  hatching, 
either  turkey  or  chicken  hens  should  be  used  for 
mothers. 

All  my  hatching  and  raising  of  turkeys  has  been 
done  with  chicken  hens,  and  I  have  found  them 
entirely  satisfactory  as  mothers  if  they  are  managed 
a  little.  A  hen  cannot  be  allowed  to  run  at  large 
with  poults,  for  she  will  drag  them  out  in  the  wet 
grass  in  the  early  morning  and  very  likely  forget,  in 
her  zeal  for  finding  the  early  worm,  that  her  charges 
need  hovering;  neither  can  she  be  allowed  to  feed 
them,  for  she  will  feed  them  to  death;  but  it  is  not 
necessary  to  permit  her  to  do  these  things  and  she  is 
otherwise  an  excellent  and  devoted  mother.  A  Buff 
Orpington  hen  of  mine  last  spring  hatched  and 
raised  ten  turks  from  ten  eggs ;  even  a  turkey  mother 
could  have  done  no  better. 

In  dry  weather  it  is  sometimes  best  to  sprinkle 
the  eggs  with  warm  water  once  or  twice  the  last 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  203 

week,  but  this  does  not  always  improve  the  hatch 
and  should  be  done  with  judgment,  if  at  all.  It  is 
safer,  I  think,  to  use  no  moisture  unless  the  weather 
is  exceedingly  dry  or  the  eggs  are  slow  in  pipping; 
and  then,  if  it  seems  necessary,  to  immerse  the  eggs, 
two  or  three  at  a  time,  in  a  pail  of  water  which  has 
been  warmed  to  100  degrees. 

Nests  for  turkey  hens  are  made  about  as  for 
chicken  hens,  except  that  they  are  wide  and  shallow, 
about  the  size  of  a  wash-bowl,  but  not  so  deep.  A 
piece  of  grass  sod  turned  upside  down  and  hollowed 
out  is  the  best  nest. 

Turkey  eggs  should  be  collected  daily  and  kept  in 
a  place  with  a  temperature  of  from  50  to  60  degrees. 
If  they  are  kept  long  they  should  be  turned  occa- 
sionally. When  the  eggs  are  removed  from  the  nest 
china  eggs  should  be  left  in  their  place,  for  turkeys 
do  not  like  an  empty  nest. 

FEEDING  AND  CARE  OF  THE  POULTS 

It  is  in  rearing  the  young  that  most  of  the  losses 
in  turkey  culture  occur.  After  the  age  of  three 
months  a  turkey  is  as  easily  cared  for  as  a  chicken, 
much  more  easily  if  it  has  proper  range,  and  almost 
as  hardy. 

Leave  the  poults  quiet  in  the  nest  for  48  hours 
after  they  are  hatched.  If  the  hen  will  eat  she  may 
be  given  a  little  wheat  out  of  the  hand,  but  my  ex- 
perience is  that  a  good  mother  is  rarely  willing  to 
eat  unless  she  can  feed  her  babies.  At  the  end  of  the 
48  hours,  or  sooner  if  they  seem  very  lively,  trans- 
fer hen  and  poults  to  an  open  front  coop  with  a  wire 
run.  Fasten  the  hen  into  the  coop  by  means  of  slats 
or  wire  and  let  the  poults  go  in  and  out  as  they 
please.  If  you  have  a  small,  clean  pen  where  they 
are  protected  from  the  wind  this  will  be  better  than 


204  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

the  coop  and  run  the  first  week.  Let  the  hen  move 
about  with  the  poults  while  the  sun  is  warm,  but 
confine  her  in  the  coop  till  the  sun  is  out  in  the  morn- 
ing and  after  three  in  the  afternoon. 

The  brooding  of  poults  differs  from  that  of  chicks 
in  but  two  particulars :  The  poults  must  not  be  con- 
fined except  for  the  first  day  or  two,  perhaps,  and 
they  need  rather  more  hovering  than  chicks.  It  is 
on  account  of  these  two  peculiarities  that  artificial 
brooding  of  turkeys  is  so  difficult. 

The  first  meal  of  the  baby  turkeys  consists  of  grit, 
charcoal  and  fresh  water.  The  grit  is  to  furnish 
grinding  material  for  the  second  meal ;  the  charcoal 
to  keep  the  digestion  in  order. 

What  is  the  best  "first  feed"  for  baby  turks?  If 
one  may  judge  by  the  published  opinion  of  breeders 
east  and  west,  there  is  none.  But  there  is  a  distinct 
majority  in  favor  of  stale  bread  soaked  in  sweet  milk 
and  squeezed  as  dry  as  possible,  with  a  little  black 
pepper  or  charcoal,  or  both,  added.  Some  give  cot- 
tage cheese  mixed  with  stale  bread  crumbs  and 
chopped  onion  tops  or  dandelion  leaves.  Others  still 
adhere  to  the  time-honored  boiled  egg  and  bread 
crumb  formula,  but  always  with  a  little  green  added. 
One  of  the  most  successful  breeders  gives  cottage 
cheese  and  onion  tops  with  a  sprinkling  of  black  pep- 
per and  recommends  mixing  in  a  raw  egg  from  the 
first  when  it  can  be  had.  My  own  experience  is  that 
hard-boiled  egg  is  fatal  and  cottage  cheese  absolutely 
essential  the  first  three  weeks,  but  some  condemn 
both  egg  and  curd  and  give  nothing  but  fine  grains, 
chick  feed  in  which  there  is  but  little  corn,  and  steel 
cut  oats. 

I  was  very  successful  this  year  with  the  following 
mixture:  Chop  fine  a  young  onion,  a  little  tender 
lettuce  and  a  small  piece  of  very  stale  cracked  wheat 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  205 

bread.  To  a  teaspoon  of  this  mixture  add  a  tea- 
spoon of  cottage  cheese,  a  little  black  pepper  and 
a  sprinkling  of  fine  chick  grit.  After  a  day  or  two 
I  began  adding  a  little  steel-cut  oats  or  cracked 
wheat.  I  fed  only  a  teaspoon  of  this  at  first  to  ten 
turkeys  and  the  hen,  but  the  hen  got  very  little  for 
the  turkeys  were  so  ravenous.  Most  breeders  say 
three  times  a  day  is  often  enough  to  feed,  but  my 
poults  were  so  very  hungry  I  felt  obliged  to  feed  five 
times  a  day,  and  the  meal  was  soon  increased  to  two 
teaspoons. 

The  hen  is  always  a  problem  in  feeding  poults,  for 
she  will  not  eat  unless  she  can  feed  them,  but  I  let 
her  manage  the  first  week  on  what  her  starving 
babies  would  let  her  have,  and  she  did  not  suffer. 
A  good  fat  hen  does  not  mind  fasting  while  she  is 
caring  for  her  brood. 

After  ten  days  I  reduced  the  number  of  meals  to 
three  but  gave  a  head  of  lettuce  once  a  day  between 
meals.  I  gradually  added  more  oats,  either  steel- 
cut  or  rolled,  leaving  off  the  bread,  but  they  had 
the  cottage  cheese  once  a  day  until  they  were  five 
weeks  old,  and  always,  at  least  once  a  day,  chopped 
onion  or  onion  tops.  Onion  seems  to  be  the  one  thing 
which  is  absolutely  necessary  to  a  young  turkey's 
welfare,  for  its  liver  is  its  weak  point  and  must  al- 
ways be  considered. 

When  they  were  two  or  three  weeks  old  I  began 
adding  a  little  whole  wheat  to  the  ration  and  I  al- 
ways put  grit  in  the  food  at  least  once  a  day.  As 
they  grew  older  and  were  able  to  pick  up  more  of 
their  living  I  worked  them  onto  a  diet  of  chopped 
onions  with  dry  bran  or  shorts  for  breakfast,  whole 
wheat  or  wheat  and  rolled  oats  for  supper  and  a 
little  green  at  noon.  I  think  shorts  is  rather  better 
than  bran,  for  bran  is  laxative.  Occasionally  I  mixed 


206  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

in  a  little  ground  bone  to  help  them  make  frame  or 
gave  a  meal  of  chopped  liver  mixed  with  rolled  oats 
and  chopped  onion,  but  I  am  not  sure  that  this  was 
any  improvement.  The  main  thing  in  feeding  young 
turkeys,  I  am  satisfied,  is,  not  what  you  feed  them 
(providing  always  they  get  onion),  but  how  much, 
and  next  year  I  shall  feed  less  than  I  did  this  year. 
Turkeys  that  have  ample  range  need  very,  very  little. 
Whatever  is  or  is  not  fed,  it  is  safest  not  to  feed 
corn  in  any  form  until  the  poults  are  at  least  three 
months  old.  In  the  Middle  West  many  breeders  do 
use  it  successfully,  but  in  this  climate  turkeys  cannot 
stand  it  and  it  is  not  so  cheap  that  there  is  any  object 
to  be  gained  by  using  it.  I  feed  a  little  kafir  corn 
just  for  variety  after  the  poults  are  three  months 
old,  but  it  seems  to  be  best  not  to  feed  Indian  corn 
till  about  a  month  before  Thanksgiving. 

COOPS 

Any  open  front  coop  that  would  be  suitable  for  a 
hen  and  her  chicks  will  do  for  young  turkeys,  only 
it  must  be  high  enough  for  the  hen  to  stand  up  in 
and  move  about  comfortably.  I  have  found  a  dry 
goods  box  about  three  feet  deep,  three  feet  high 
and  three  feet  wide  a  good  brood  coop  for  both  chicks 
and  turkeys.  To  the  front  of  this  I  attach  a  wire 
run  three  feet  wide  and  six  feet  long.  At  first  the 
hen  is  kept  in  the  wooden  coop  and  the  young  ones 
are  not  allowed  outside  the  wire  run,  but  after  a  few 
days,  depending  on  the  weather,  the  hen  is  confined 
only  by  the  wire  run  and  the  turks  have  their  lib- 
erty. When  the  mother  is  a  turkey  hen,  it  seems 
wise  to  let  her  go  where  she  will  after  three  or  four 
weeks,  but  a  chicken  hen  is  a  better  mother  if  she 
is  confined. 

The  coop  should  be  moved  to  clean  ground  every 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  207 

day,  for  turkeys  are  more  sensitive  to  filth  than 
chicks,  and  the  wood  coop  should  be  hosed  or  sprayed 
with  disinfectant,  and  supplied  with  clean  litter  very 
often.  All  coops  for  poults  should  have  board  floors, 
and  an  oilcloth  cover  for  the  wire  run  should  be 
ready  for  rainy  days  or  foggy  mornings.  In  really 
rainy  weather  it  is  better  to  move  the  coop  under  a 
roof,  if  possible,  and  keep  the  poults  indoors  till  the 
sun  shines,  for  damp  weather  is  very  hard  on  them. 

As  the  poults  grow  older  they  can  stand  more 
dampness,  but  they  should  be  kept  out  of  the  wet 
grass  till  they  are  several  weeks  old.  If  the  hen  is 
confined  the  poults  may  go  far  enough  to  wet  their 
feet  a  little,  but  they  will  always  come  back  to  be 
warmed,  and  the  hen  will  be  ready  to  warm  them. 

When  the  poults  are  old  enough  to  roost,  at  five 
or  six  weeks,  it  is  a  good  plan  to  provide  a  coop 
with  low  roosts.  Cover  the  ground  under  the  roosts 
with  clean  straw  or  leaves  and  let  the  poults  cuddle 
on  the  floor  or  roost  as  they  please.  They  will  soon 
learn  to  roost  and  then  they  will  look  for  a  higher 
perch  on  fence  or  tree-limb. 

GRIT  AND  CHARCOAL 

Sharp  grit  and  powdered  charcoal  are  both  very 
necessary  to  a  young  turkey's  diet.  Grit  should  al- 
ways be  within  reach,  and  it  is  a  good  plan  to  add 
it  to  the  chopped  feed  the  first  few  weeks  to  make 
sure  that  they  get  enough.  Charcoal  is  a  prevent- 
ive of  diarrhea  and  indigestion. 

LICE 

Next  to  overfeeding,  lice  are  probably  the  most 
potent  cause  of  untimely  death  in  young  turkeys. 
One  reason  for  this  is  that  it  is  hard  to  see  the  lice 
on  turkeys  for  they  hide  among  the  quills  of  the 


208  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

wing  feathers.  Another  is  that  lice  powder  is  some- 
times weak  and  though  the  poults  may  have  been 
well  powdered  they  still  have  lice. 

Any  hen  that  hatches  turkeys  should  be  well  powd- 
ered with  a  good  strong  louse  powder  when  the  eggs 
are  given  her  and  just  before  they  are  due  to  hatch 
and  once  between.  For  the  young  poults  I  prefer 
buhach  insect  powder.  Dust  them  till  they  look 
yellow  all  over,  and  dust  regularly  once  a  week 
whether  you  think  they  need  it  or  not.  When  you 
look  for  lice  raise  the  short  feathers  on  the  shoulders 
directly  over  the  large  quills,  spread  the  wing  and 
examine  carefully  the  outside  of  the  wing.  This  is 
where  the  lice  like  to  hide.  You  will  rarely  find 
them  under  the  wing. 

A  little  olive  oil  or  vaseline  on  the  lice,  if  you  see 
them,  will  kill  them  instantly.  Never  use  kerosene 
on  turkeys.  A  little  tincture  of  iodine  applied  with 
a  feather  to  head,  wing  feathers  and  the  fluff  about 
the  vent  is  said  to  be  an  absolute  preventive  of  lice. 

FATTENING  TURKEYS 

It  is  another  evidence  of  the  wild  nature  of  tur- 
keys that  they  cannot  be  fattened  by  confining  them 
as  chickens  can.  When  they  are  shut  up  they  lose 
their  appetite  and  eat  little  if  anything.  When  it  is 
time  to  fatten  them,  some  time  in  October,  put  them 
on  a  diet  of  whole  corn  and  they  will  quickly  put  on 
flesh.  Old  corn  should  always  be  used  for  new  corn 
often  causes  diarrhea. 

Turkeys  should  always  be  kept  away  from  chick- 
ens, partly  because  they  need  a  different  diet,  partly 
because  they  are  so  much  more  susceptible  to  filth 
diseases. 

VARIETIES  AND  STANDARD  WEIGHTS 

The  American  Standard  of  Perfection  recognizes 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  209 

seven  varieties  of  turkeys:  Bronze,  Black,  White 
Holland,  Narragansett,  Buff,  Bourbon  Red  and 
Slate.  Only  three  of  these,  the  Bronze,  White  Hol- 
land and  Bourbon  Red,  are  bred  in  California  to  any 
extent. 

The  Mammoth  Bronze  has  long  been  the  most 
popular  variety.  Standard  weights  are  as  follows: 

Lbs.  Lbs. 

Adult  cock 36     Cockerel    25 

Yearling  cock 33     Hen    20 

Pullet 16 

The  White  Holland  was  originally  a  sport  from 
the  Bronze.  It  is  much  liked  by  persons  who  prefer 
a  smaller  bird  than  the  Bronze,  and  is  called  "the 
stay-at-home  turkey,"  because  it  is  less  inclined  to 
roam  than  other  varieties.  Standard  weights  are: 

Lbs.  Lbs. 

Adult  cock 28     Hen    18 

Cockerel    20     Pullet 14 

The  White  Holland  is  particularly  suitable  for  a 
market  bird  because  of  its  smaller  size  as  com- 
pared to  the  Bronze,  but  it  is  being  bred  larger, 
cocks  weighing  40  pounds  being  found  in  many 
breeding  yards. 

The  Bourbon  Red  turkey  has  more  wild  blood 
than  the  other  varieties  mentioned,  being  a  de- 
scendant of  the  wild  yellow  turkey.  Its  friends 
claim  that  it  is  hardier  than  other  varieties,  and  its 
smaller  size  makes  it  a  little  more  suitable  for  a 
market  fowl  than  the  Bronze.  Standard  weights 
are: 

Lbs.  Lbs. 

Cock 30     Hen    18 

Cockerel  .   22     Pullet  .  ,   14 


210  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

DISEASES 

Turkeys  are  subject  to  all  diseases  that  affect 
chickens,  but  their  weak  point  is  their  liver.  When  a 
turkey  seems  dull  and  sluggish,  inclined  to  stand  or 
sit  with  drooping  wings,  and  refuses  to  eat,  look 
first  for  lice.  If  none  are  found,  diagnose  a  dis- 
turbed liver.  There  is  usually  more  or  less  diarrhea 
in  these  cases,  so  the  diarrhea  is  the  thing  to  rem- 
edy first.  Boiled  rice  is  said  to  be  an  excellent 
remedy  and  a  diet  of  chopped  onion  and  lettuce  for  a 
few  days  is  very  beneficial,  if  the  bird  can  be  in- 
duced to  eat,  but  loss  of  appetite  is  usually  the  first 
symptom  of  illness  so  there  must  be  a  little  doctor- 
ing. 

Probably  there  is  nothing  better  than  quinine  in 
these  cases.  I  must  confess  I  have  not  found  it 
much  help,  but  it  is  generally  recommended.  Give 
the  sick  bird  first  either  a  liver  pill  or  a  calomel  pill 
containing  one-tenth  grain,  once  a  day  for  three 
days  and  follow  with  a  quinine  pill  once  a  day  till 
the  bird  is  cured. 

A  simple  remedy  which  is  said  to  be  a  sure  cure 
for  diarrhea  is  a  red  pepper  pill  which  is  made  as 
follows:  One  tablespoon  of  red  pepper  mixed  with 
two  tablespoons  of  wheat  middlings;  moisten  with 
water,  cut  into  from  four  to  six  parts,  roll  each 
part  into  pill  shape  and  bake  hard  in  the  oven. 
Give  one  pill  three  times  a  day  till  the  droppings 
are  improved,  then  give  castor  oil,  a  tablespoon 
to  an  adult  bird  or  one-half  tablespoon  to  a  poult. 

Another  disease  to  which  turkeys  are  subject  is 
known  as  pendulous  crop.  The  crop  becomes  great- 
ly enlarged  so  that  it  sometimes  interferes  with 
walking,  and  is  filled  with  a  dark  liquid.  An  east- 
ern breeder  recommends  baking  powder,  a  teaspoon 
for  an  adult  bird,  for  this  trouble,  but  I  have  heard 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  211 

of  a  Southern  California  man  who  cured  it  by  ban- 
daging the  crop. 

In  general  the  diseases  of  turkeys  are  the  same 
as  those  of  chickens  and  are  cured  by  the  same  rem- 
edies, but  if  turkeys  have  range  and  sleep  in  the 
open,  are  kept  free  from  lice  and  not  overfed,  they 
will  be  little  troubled  by  disease. 

THE  CRITICAL  TIME 

It  is  often  said  that  a  poult  a  month  old  is  as  good 
as  raised,  and  this  is  probably  true  if  it  has  not  been 
overfed  during  this  month,  but  a  turkey  that  has 
been  overfed  will  often  not  show  the  effect  of  over- 
feeding till  it  is  about  two  months  old,  when  it  will 
droop  and  die  of  liver  trouble.  Just  about  the  time 
they  begin  to  show  the  red  is  another  critical  time, 
and  the  poults  should  be  given  plenty  of  meat  and 
green  food  till  it  is  passed." 

Many  breeders  pull  out  or  cut  off  the  flight  feath- 
ers of  the  wings  when  the  poults  are  a  week  old. 
They  are  said  to  be  much  stronger  and  to  grow 
much  faster  when  they  have  not  the  weight  of  the 
wings  to  carry.  Probably  it  is  with  poults  as  with 
Leghorns  and  other  Mediterraneans,  the  strength 
of  the  body  seems  to  go  into  the  wings  and  cutting 
them  gives  the  body  a  better  chance. 

RULES  FOR  TURKEY  RAISING 

The  essentials  for  success  in  raising  turkeys  may 
be  summed  up  in  these  eight  rules: 

1.  Don't  overfeed. 

2.  Keep  them  free  from  lice. 

3.  Avoid  dampness. 

4.  Keep  coops  on  clean  ground. 

5.  Give  free  range  after  the  first  month  and  plenty 

of  room  always. 


212  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

6.  Use  turkey  hens  for  mothers  if  possible. 

7.  Feed  some  green  at  every  meal  at  first,  and 

onions  or  onion  tops  at  least  once  a  day. 

8.  Avoid  corn  the  first  three  months. 


FIG.    40 WHITE   DIARRHEA    CHICKS.       ONE    SUCH    MAY    INFECT   THE   ENTIRE 

BROOD 


FIG.    41 AVLESBURY    DUCKS 


CHAPTER    XII 

Ducks   and    Geese 

DUCKS 

Ducks  of  the  improved  races,  as  they  are  now 
found  on  American  farms  and  poultry  plants,  are 
of  three  general  types:  the  meat  type,  the  laying 
type  and  the  ornamental  type. 

To  the  meat  type  belong  the  Rouen,  Aylesbury, 
Cayuga,  Blue  Swedish,  Blue  Termonde,  Pekin,  Mus- 
covy and  Buff  Orpington;  to  the  laying  type,  the 
Indian  Runner;  to  the  ornamental,  the  Crested 
White  duck,  Gray  and  White  Call  ducks  and  Black 
East  India  ducks.  The  Mallard,  or  common  wild 
duck,  is  the  common  ancestor  of  all  these  except 
the  Muscovy,  and  is  frequently  captured  and  bred 
in  domestication  where  its  size  becomes  so  increased 
after  a  few  generations  that  it  greatly  resembles 
a  small  specimen  of  the  Rouen  duck. 

Meat  Types. 

Only  four  varieties  of  ducks  of  the  meat  type  are 
bred  to  any  extent  in  California — the  Aylesbury,  the 
Muscovy,  the  Buff  Orpington  and  the  Pekin.  The 
Muscovy  is  kept  mainly  as  a  fancy  duck  and  the 
Buff  Orpington,  though  an  excellent  market  duck, 
cannot  be  considered  a  rival  of  the  Pekin,  which 
is  the  one  duck  extensively  bred  on  commercial 
plants. 

The  Pekin  duck  was  brought  to  England  from 
China  in  1874  and  to  America  the  next  year.  It  is 
the  common  duck  of  China  and  was  from  the  first 


214  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

very  large  and  very  hardy.  These  qualities,  to- 
gether with  its  rapid  growth,  have  commended  it 
to  breeders,  and  it  has  grown  in  popularity  till  it 
has  come  to  be  known  as  the  one  commercial  market 
duck.  On  the  large  duck  plants  of  Long  Island  and 
Pennsylvania  these  ducks  are  grown  by  the  thou- 
sand for  marketing  as  "green  ducks"  at  from  ten 
to  twelve  weeks  of  age,  when  they  weigh  from  six 
to  nine  pounds  apiece. 

Rankin  Methods. 

James  Rankin,  a  Massachusetts  man,  has  been 
called  the  "Father  of  the  Pekin  Duck  Industry  in 
America,"  and  his  methods  are  still  the  standard 
for  Pekin  duck  raising.  Mr.  Rankin  gave  his  ducks 
no  water  except  for  drinking.  The  breeding  houses 
were  divided  into  pens,  in  each  of  which  25  birds 
were  kept.  Early  in  the  season  five  ducks  were 
allowed  to  one  drake,  but  later  on  six  or  eight  ducks 
to  one  drake. 

When  the  breeders  were  selected  from  among  the 
young  ducks  at  the  age  of  ten  weeks,  they  were 
turned  out  to  pasture  in  flocks  of  200  each,  for  range 
is  considered  very  necessary  to  the  health  and  de- 
velopment of  breeding  ducks.  Here  they  were  fed 
twice  a  day  all  they  would  eat  of  the  following  mash 
mixture : 

Three  parts,  by  measure,  heavy  wheat  bran;  one 
part  low  grade  flour ;  one  part  cornmeal ;  5  per  cent 
beef  scrap;  3  per  cent  fine  grit;  all  the  green  feed 
they  will  eat  in  the  shape  of  corn  fodder,  clover,  al- 
falfa, oat  fodder  or  green  rye,  cut  fine. 

After  they  are  brought  into  the  breeding  pens  in 
the  fall  they  are  given,  morning  and  night,  the  fol- 
lowing mash : 

Equal  parts,  by  measure,  wheat  bran  and  corn- 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  215 

meal ;  10  per  cent  beef  scrap ;  20  per  cent  low  grade 
flour;  10  per  cent  boiled  turnips;  mangel  beets  or 
potatoes;  15  per  cent  clover,  alfalfa,  green  rye  or 
refuse  cabbage,  cut  fine;  3  per  cent  grit.  At  noon 
they  get  a  light  feed  of  corn  and  oats.  Clean  grit  and 
oyster  shell  always  before  the  birds  in  boxes.  Mash 
never  cooked,  and  always  mixed  with  cold  water. 
The  houses  are  kept  clean  and  well  aired  and  the 
bedding  frequently  changed.  Lighted  lanterns  kept 
in  the  yards  at  night  to  keep  the  ducklings  quiet. 

The  Indian  Runner. 

The  Indian  Runner  duck  is  the  laying  duck,  and 
so  famous  has  it  become  for  the  number  of  its  eggs 
that  it  is  often  called  "the  Leghorn  of  the  duck  fam- 
ily." It  is  doubtful  whether  there  is  foundation  for 
all  the  reports  of  phenomenal  laying  on  the  part  of 
Runners,  but  they  are  undoubtedly  as  good  layers 
as  the  average  of  hens,  and  probably  better.  The 
eggs  usually  bring  a  somewhat  higher  price,  being 
large  and  absolutely  free  from  tubercular  taint. 

There  are  two  colors  of  Runners,  the  fawn  and 
white,  which  is  the  standard  color,  and  the  pure 
white,  which  is  much  less  common,  but  is  now  a 
recognized  variety.  These  ducks  have  been  sup- 
posed to  be  natives  of  India,  hence  the  name,  but 
Robinson  says  there  is  little  doubt  that  they  were 
imported  from  the  Netherlands.  They  are  much 
more  erect  in  carriage  than  the  Pekin  and  much 
smaller,  standard  weights  being:  drake,  four  and 
one-half  pounds;  duck,  four  pounds.  The  body  is 
long  and  narrow,  the  breast  well  developed.  The 
fawn  and  white  or  (sometimes)  gray  and  white 
variety  is  colored  in  a  peculiar  pattern,  the  dark 
color  occurring  in  patches  on  the  crown  and  cheeks 
and  on  the  back,  breast  and  fore  part  of  the  body 


216  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

like  a  jacket.  Runner  ducklings  make  very  good 
broilers,  dressing  very  plump  and  meaty  at  from 
two  and  one-half  to  three  pounds  each  at  six  weeks 
of  age. 

Raising  Baby  Ducks. 

Ducklings  are  far  more  easily  raised  than  chicks. 
They  require  less  heat  and  less  hovering,  are  not 
troubled  by  lice  nor  subject  to  the  diseases  which 
beset  chicks,  and  with  just  a  little  attention  and 
heat  will  raise  themselves.  Many  persons  raise  them 
in  small  numbers  with  hen  mothers,  but  they  are 
liable  to  be  trampled  to  death  by  hens  and  do  so 
well  in  fireless  brooders  that  it  is  not  at  all  neces- 
sary to  use  hens  or  heated  brooders  unless  the 
weather  is  cold. 

The  ducklings  should  be  left  in  the  nest  two  days 
after  they  are  hatched.  They  will  not  eat  if  they 
are  offered  food  and  they  require  warmth  and  quiet 
these  two  days.  When  they  begin  to  try  to  climb 
out  of  the  nest,  about  the  morning  of  the  third  day, 
they  may  be  taken  from  the  hen  and  placed  in  a 
fireless  brooder  in  a  coop  similar  to  that  used 
for  hen  and  chicks,  with  a  wire  run  in  front.  When 
they  are  two  weeks  old  they  may  be  given  range  or 
put  in  a  larger  pen. 

The  first  few  days  they  can  be  let  out  in  the 
middle  of  the  day,  but  should  be  put  back  in  the 
brooder  as  it  begins  to  grow  cool  toward  night.  A 
friend  of  mine  who  is  very  successful  with  Indian 
Runners  gives  them  at  first  a  "jug-mother."  This 
is  a  jug  of  hot  water,  wrapped  in  flannel,  which 
stands  in  their  coop  or  in  the  run  in  front  of  it 
where  the  ducklings  can  easily  run  to  it  if  they  feel 
chilly,  and  they  soon  learn  where  to  go  to  warm 
up.  At  night  this  is  placed  in  their  brooder  box 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  217 

and  covered  with  a  blanket  so  that  they  may  cuddle 
about  it.  After  a  week  or  so,  depending  on  the 
weather,  the  "jug  mother"  is  dispensed  with. 

There  is  no  better  "first  feed"  for  ducklings  than 
dry  bread  moistened  with  fresh  milk  and  squeezed 
dry,  with  a  small  amount  of  clean  sand  added. 
Bread  crumbs  and  rolled  oats  mixed,  half  and  half, 
and  moistened  with  milk,  is  also  good.  Some  breed- 
ers use  a  still  more  complex  ration  at  first,  adding 
hard-boiled  egg  to  the  rolled  oats  and  bread.  What- 
ever feed  is  used,  clean,  sharp  sand  should  always 
be  part  of  it. 

Drinking  water  should  be  given  warm  the  first 
ten  days.  Use  a  fountain  such  as  is  used  for  chicks, 
and  remove  after  each  meal,  for  the  ducks  should 
not  be  allowed  to  play  in  it  or  to  get  themselves 
wet.  Drinking  cold  water  or  chilling  the  body  by 
wetting  the  down  sometimes  causes  cramps  and 
brings  the  little  life  to  a  speedy  end. 

If  ducklings  are  to  be  brought  to  maturity  with 
the  greatest  possible  speed  their  rations  must  be 
carefully  graduated,  the  mash  being  made  richer 
as  fast  as  they  can  bear  it.  The  following  is  Mr. 
Rankin's  method  of  feeding  young  Pekins: 

First  four  days:  Four  parts  wheat  bran;  one 
part  cornmeal ;  one  part  low  grade  flour ;  5  per  cent 
fine  grit.  Feed  four  times  a  day. 

Four  days  to  four  weeks :  Four  parts  wheat  bran 
(by  measure)  ;  one  part  cornmeal;  one  part  low 
grade  flour;  3  per  cent  fine  grit;  5  per  cent  fine 
ground  beef  scrap  (soaked  first  by  scalding).  Feed 
four  times  a  day.  Finely  cut  green  clover,  rye  or 
cabbage  fed  freely. 

Four  to  six  weeks:  Three  parts,  by  measure, 
wheat  bran ;  one  part  cornmeal ;  one  part  low  grade 
flour;  3  per  cent  fine  grit;  5  per  cent  beef  scrap; 


218  POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT 

one  per  cent  fine  oyster  shell;  a  liberal  supply  of 
green  feed  mixed  in  the  mash.  Feed  four  times  a 
day. 

Six  to  eight  weeks :  The  following,  three  times  a 
day:  Equal  parts  wheat  bran,  cornmeal  and  15 
per  cent  low  grade  flour;  10  per  cent  beef  scrap, 
10  per  cent  green  food  and  3  per  cent  grit.  Keep 
oyster  shell  before  them.  Feed  three  times  a  day. 

Eight  weeks  till  finish :  One-half  cornmeal ;  equal 
parts  bran  and  low  grade  flour;  10  per  cent  beef 
scrap;  3  per  cent  grit.  Oyster  shell  is  kept  before 
them  and  green  feed  given  less  freely  till  within  ten 
days  or  two  weeks  of  market  time,  and  then  omitted 
altogether.  All  mashes  are  made  dry  and  crumbly, 
never  gummy  or  pasty. 

Moist  Mash  Best. 

Ducks  of  all  ages  thrive  best  on  soft  food.  Cracked 
corn  and  sometimes  a  little  wheat  may  be  fed,  but 
only  in  limited  quantities.  When  a  moist  mash  is 
given  morning  and  night  cracked  corn  may  be  fed 
at  noon. 

After  ducklings  are  two  or  three  weeks  old  any 
good  mash  mixture  may  be  given  such  as  the  Maine 
or  the  Cornell  mash,  care  being  taken  to  watch  the 
amount  of  beef  scrap  and  regulate  it  according  to 
the  condition  of  the  bowels.  Ducklings  are  rather 
more  easily  affected  by  too  laxative  food  than  chicks, 
and  whenever  the  bowels  seem  too  loose  the  amount 
of  beef  scrap  should  be  cut  down. 

Runner  ducklings  do  not  need  as  forcing  a  ration 
as  those  given  to  Pekins.  Some  breeders  give  them 
after  the  first  month  a  mash  composed  almost  en- 
tirely of  bran  with  a  little  beef  scrap  added,  and 
cracked  corn  at  noon,  with  plenty  of  green  food 
either  in  the  mash  or  between  meals. 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  219 

Sand  or  grit  should  be  part  of  every  meal.  The 
duck  has  no  crop  and  hence  is  unable  to  grind  its 
food  without  plenty  of  grinding  material. 

After  ducks  are  a  month  old  they  may  have  a 
vessel  of  water  large  enough  to  dip  their  heads  in, 
but  they  do  not  need  to  swim.  Water  for  their 
heads  keeps  their  eyes  clean  and  their  heads  from 
becoming  infested  with  vermin. 

Green  feed  is  a  very  important  part  of  a  duck's 
ration  after  the  first  two  weeks.  It  is  easy  to  see 
why  this  should  be  so,  for  the  duck  as  found  wild, 
inhabits  low,  marshy  ground  where  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  tender  green  growth.  For  the  same  reason 
animal  food  is  necessary  to  take  the  place  of  the 
bugs  and  grubs  a  duck  would  find  in  its  natural 
habitat.  With  feed  at  its  present  prices  it  is  a  ques- 
tion whether  there  is  much  profit  in  raising  market 
ducks  in  confinement  when  all  feed  must  be  pur- 
chased, but  when  they  can  be  given  a  moist,  marshy 
range  and  forage  for  part  of  their  living  they  ought 
to  be  fairly  profitable.  Indian  Runners,  being  egg 
producers  and  smaller  eaters  than  Pekins,  ought  to 
be  more  profitable. 

Hatching  Duck  Eggs. 

On  all  the  large  duck  plants  the  eggs  are  hatched 
in  incubators,  and  they  hatch  very  well  in  this  way, 
only  needing  a  little  more  moisture  than  hens'  eggs 
and  a  little  lower  temperature. 

Mr.  Rankin's  method  of  running  the  incubator  is 
as  follows: 

"The  temperature  of  the  egg  chamber  is  main- 
tained at  102  degrees  with  a  thermometer  on  a  live 
egg  until  the  animal  heat  begins  to  get  well  estab- 
lished, which  is  about  the  fifteenth  or  sixteenth  day, 
when  the  heat  is  allowed  to  go  to  103  degrees,  at 


220  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

which  point  the  temperature  is  maintained  through- 
out the  balance  of  the  hatch.  Readjustment  of  the 
regulating  device  is  frequently  necessary  when  run- 
ning a  machine  filled  with  strongly  fertile  eggs,  as 
there  is  always  a  tendency  to  a  rise  of  temperature, 
and  this  is  considered  a  good  sign. 

"The  duck  eggs  are  tested  out  after  they  have 
been  incubated  about  seventy  hours  and  all  the  clear 
eggs  are  sent  to  market.  They  are  not  in  the  least 
injured  for  culinary  purposes  and  will  boil  perfectly, 
which  is  considered  one  of  the  best  tests  of  a  fresh 
egg.  In  keeping  qualities  these  tested  out  infertile 
eggs  are  superior  to  all  others,  as  they  will  keep  in 
perfect  condition  for  months  if  kept  in  a  cold  dry 
place. 

"A  second  test  is  always  made  on  the  tenth  or 
twelfth  day  and  all  eggs  missed  at  first  test,  or  those 
in  which  the  germs  have  died,  are  removed.  A  final 
test  is  made  on  or  about  the  twenty-fourth  day. 
Whenever  a  dead  egg  becomes  putrid  it  is  smelled 
out  and  removed.  These  can  often  be  detected  by 
color  or  marbled  appearance  of  the  shell. 

"The  wire  cloth  of  the  egg  trays  is  covered  with 
or  replaced  by  burlap,  which  is  less  liable  to  injure 
eggs  and  makes  turning  easier,  as  the  eggs  do  not 
roll  about  on  it  as  they  do  on  wire.  Moisture  is  used 
in  the  machines  from  the  eighteenth  day  and  is 
considered  a  necessity  in  incubating  duck  eggs.  The 
usual  method  is  to  sprinkle  the  burlap  and  the  eggs 
thoroughly  with  water  at  about  the  temperature 
of  the  eggs,  the  object  being  to  saturate  the  air  of 
the  egg  chamber  with  moisture. 

On  the  twenty-sixth  day  the  eggs  and  trays  are 
made  quite  wet  with  moderately  warm  water  and 
the  machine  closed  to  remain  so  till  the  hatch  is  over. 
The  ducklings  are  usually  all  out  on  the  twenty- 


POULTRY  FOR   PROFIT  221 

seventh  day  and  are  removed  to  brooders  on  the 
twenty-eighth." 

When  duck  eggs  are  hatched  under  hens  they 
should  be  moistened  occasionally  after  the  first  week 
by  sprinkling  them  with  warm  water  while  the  hen 
is  off.  Some  breeders  sprinkle  them  as  often  as 
every  other  day  after  the  first  week,  some  only  occa- 
sionally, and  a  few  not  at  all.  Much  depends  on  the 
weather,  but  in  this  dry  climate  some  moisture  is  a 
necessity.  Twenty-eight  days  is  the  time  required 
for  incubation  of  most  duck  eggs  as  well  as  for  those 
of  turkeys  and  geese.  Muscovy  duck  eggs  require 
five  weeks. 

Diseases. 

The  pleasantest  thing  about  duck  culture  is  that 
the  duck  is  not  liable  to  disease  as  chickens  are.  To 
be  sure,  a  duck  that  is  deprived  of  its  natural  ration, 
sand,  green  stuff  and  animal  food,  will  sooner  or 
later  suffer  from  indigestion,  and  perhaps  die,  but  a 
duck  that  receives  reasonable  care  is  pretty  sure  to 
be  a  well  duck.  Roup,  colds,  tuberculosis  and  all  the 
long  list  of  chicken  ills  are  practically  unknown. 
When  a  duck  is  "off  feed,"  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten 
the  trouble  may  be  traced  directly  to  improper 
feeding.  Bedding  and  coops  and  runs  should  be  kept 
reasonably  clean,  but  the  duck  is  not  so  easily  af- 
fected by  lapses  in  sanitation  as  other  kinds  of 
poultry  and  will  stand  a  great  deal  of  abuse. 

In  practically  all  duck  disorders  it  is  safe  to  pre- 
scribe more  green  feed,  more  exercise  and  less  hard 
grain.  All  green  feed  except  lettuce  should  be  cut 
fine. 

Sometimes  a  too  liberal  use  of  beef  scrap  causes 
bowel  trouble.  This  should  be  guarded  against  by 
watching  and  cutting  out  part  of  the  beef  scrap  if  it 
seems  necessary. 


222  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

Salt  is  quite  poisonous  to  ducks  and  should  never 
be  put  in  their  feed  or  left  where  they  can  reach  it. 
Severe  cases  of  poisoning  among  ducks  have  been 
caused  by  their  getting  at  pickle  brine  or  salt  from 
ice  cream  freezers  which  had  been  carelessly  thrown 
out. 

Leg  weakness  is  sometimes  caused  in  young  ducks 
which  are  being  forced  for  market  by  heavy  feeding 
and  too  close  confinement.  It  is  better  that  all  duck- 
lings should  have  some  range.  When  they  cannot 
be  given  range  regularly,  let  them  out  often  enough 
to  keep  their  leg  muscles  strong  or  give  them  a  pen 
in  which  there  is  room  to  run.  Exercise  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  for  breeders.  Dampness  in  the 
sleeping  quarters  is  also  a  cause  of  stiffness  and 
weakness  in  the  legs. 

Shade  is  even  more  necessary  to  ducks  and  duck- 
lings than  to  hens  and  chicks.  Instances  are  on  rec- 
ord where  ducks  have  died  of  sunstroke  when  they 
were  carelessly  left  without  shade  in  hot  weather. 
A  burlap  sack  spread  over  their  coop  is  sufficient, 
but  some  protection  from  the  sun  they  must  have. 

GEESE 

There  are  seven  standard  varieties  of  geese :  Gray 
Toulouse,  White  Embden,  Gray  African,  Brown 
Chinese,  White  Chinese,  Gray  Wild  and  Colored 
Egyptian. 

Geese  are  not  extensively  raised  in  California, 
probably  because  there  is  too  little  damp  ground  and 
natural  pasture  to  make  them  profitable.  On  farms 
in  the  river  bottoms  they  might  well  be  raised  to  a 
greater  extent  than  they  are,  for  they  will  forage 
for  most  of  their  living  where  they  have  a  chance 
and  are  very  easily  raised. 

Geese   are   long-lived   birds,   some   having   been 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  223 

known  to  attain  the  age  of  forty  years,  while  they 
frequently  reach  fifteen  and  twenty  years.  On  this 
account  it  pays  to  secure  good  stock  at  the  start. 
Geese  are  valuable  as  breeders  as  long  as  they  live, 
but  ganders  should  not  be  kept  for  breeding  after 
three  years  of  age. 

Mating  and  Hatching 

Geese  are  usually  mated  in  trios  or  pairs.  Breed- 
ing stock  should  be  two  years  old  and  fully  matured. 
The  stock  should  be  purchased  in  the  fall  so  that  the 
birds  may  become  accustomed  to  their  new  surround- 
ings before  the  breeding  season  begins,  and  should 
be  turned  out  to  pasture  until  it  is  nearly  time  for 
the  season  to  begin.  If  they  have  plenty  of  forage 
they  will  need  no  other  feed  except  perhaps  a  little 
grain.  A  little  before  they  are  to  be  bred  they  may 
be  given  the  following  ration :  Equal  parts  by  mea- 
sure of  bran,  middlings  and  corn  meal,  with  five 
per  cent  beef  scrap  added.  They  should  have  a  light 
feed  of  this  ration  in  the  morning,  with  cracked 
corn  at  night.  Ten  per  cent  of  the  bulk  of  the  daily 
ration  should  be  green  feed  and  cooked  vegetables. 

The  breeding  season  begins  about  February  1, 
though  some  geese  begin  laying  earlier.  They  make 
their  own  nests  and  will  lay  from  twelve  to  twenty 
eggs  before  becoming  broody.  As  soon  as  the  goos± 
shows  an  inclination  to  sit,  place  her  in  a  dark  box 
or  small  coop  and  keep  her  there  two  or  three  day.": 
with  water  but  no  food.  She  will  then  begin  laying 
again.  The  first  and  second  clutches  of  eggs  should 
be  set  under  hens,  but  the  goose  should  be  permitted 
to  hatch  the  third  clutch.  Goose  eggs  require  thirty 
days  for  incubation.  It  is  recommended  that  after 
the  eggs  have  been  sat  upon  for  twenty-five  days 


224  POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 

they  be  taken  from  the  nest  and  placed  for  about  a 
minute  in  water  heated  to  104  degrees. 

Feeding  Goslings 

After  the  goslings  hatch  they  are  left  under  the 
hen  for  twenty-four  hours  and  are  then  moved  to  a 
dry,  comfortable  coop.  The  following  rations  for 
goslings  are  recommended  by  prominent  breeders : 

(1)  Two  parts  corn  meal,  1  part  shorts,  10  per 
cent  beef  scrap.     Moisten  with  water  till  crumbly 
and  feed  what  they  will  eat  up  clean  three  times  a 
day  for  a  month.    After  this  grass  and  water  is  all 
they  require. 

(2)  For   thirty-six    to    forty-eight    hours    give 
nothing  but  grass,  then  feed  every  two  to  three 
hours  1  part  corn  meal,  2  parts  shorts  moistened 
and  squeezed  almost  dry.     Avoid  sloppy  food  and 
feed  sparingly.    After  a  week  give  scalded  cracked 
corn  and  a  grass  run. 

Goslings  should  not  be  allowed  to  swim  till  fully 
feathered. 

Feeding  Breeders 

The  following  rations  are  recommended  for  breed- 
ing stock : 

(1)  Morning:  Shorts  and  corn  meal,  equal  parts, 
mixed  to  crumbly  state  with  10  per  cent  beef  scrap. 
Feed  only  what  they  will  eat  up  quickly. 

Afternoon:  Whole  grain,  oats,  barley  and  corn 
in  small  boxes.  Plenty  of  shell  and  pure  water  and 
grass  range. 

(2)  Four  parts  bran,  2  parts  shorts,  1  part  corn 
meal.      Ground   meat   and   cooked   vegetables   fre- 
quently added.    This  ration  is  dampened  with  skim 
milk  or  water  and  fed  morning  and  evening  with  a 
little  whole  corn  at  noon  in  winter.     Grit  and  shell 
always  before  them. 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT  225 

Geese  require  but  the  simplest  shelter  and  do  best 
when  given  liberty  to  roam  as  they  please.  They 
are  so  hardy,  however,  that  they  are  often  raised 
successfully  with  chickens,  and  a  few  would  seem 
to  be  a  valuable  addition  to  any  farm  flock. '- 


Index 


Air  Puff 195 

Alfalfa 80 

Aspergillosis 175 

Balanced  Ration 84 

Beginning 10 

Breed,  choosing 18 

classification   19 

American  for  farm 20 

only  one 22 

Blue  Ointment 149 

Breeding,  line 122 

cross 124 

inbreeding   125 

Breeding  Pen 114 

Breeding  Stock,  buying 13 

culling 114 

marks  for  vigor 115 

care  and  feeding 127 

exercise 128 

Broilers,  Orpingtons 121 

ration  for 106 

and  fryers 136 

Bronchitis 177 

Brooders,  fireless 71 

lamp 72 

colony  house 73 

heated 75 

cold 78 

watch  for  mites 153 

Brooding 64 

warmth  in 67 

crockery  box  for 68 

artificial 71 

Bumblefoot 190 

Canker 180 

Cans  and  Pans 166 

Capital,  how  much 17 

Capons 141 

Carbohydrates 82 

Catarrh 176 

Chicken  Pox 171,  180 

Chicks,  buying   12 

comfortable  quarters 12 

hatching    23 

mortality 43 

hen  hatched 46 

dead  in  shell 59 

marking 62 

rearing     64 

warmth  essential 64 

overcrowding 65 

protect  from  lice 66 

cats  and   pests 66 

pure  air  for 67 

putting  into  coop 69 

caring  for  brooder 74 

Jug  for 75,  166 

enemies  of 76 


Chicks,  exercise  for 79 

keep  growing 80 

feeding   90 

killed  by  sun 147 

Cockerel,  pens 118 

fattening 137 

Comb,    indicates   health 172 

Contagion 170 

Conveniences 164 

Coops,  and  runs 66 

box  for 68 

clean  often 70 

broody 161 

Cresol 152 

Crop    Bound 173 

Depluming  Mite 183 

Diarrhea,  white 184 

Digestibility 83 

Diseases,  preventing 142 

and  vices 170 

causes 170 

signs  of 171 

common 172 

liver 172 

of  turkeys 210 

of  ducks 221 

Dry  Mash 104 

Dry  Picking 140 

Ducks 213 

meat  types 213 

Rankin  methods 214 

Indian  Runner 215 

raising  baby 216 

moist  mash  for 218 

hatching    219 

testing  eggs 220 

diseases  of 221 

Dust  Bath 149 

Egg-maker 89 

Egg  Eating 196 

Eggs,  for  hatching 14 

color 22 

production 23 

broken  in  nest 43 

composition 45 

selecting 46 

care  of 46 

fertility 47 

testing   51 

throw  off  heat 55 

air  cells 60 

effect  of  feeds  on 105 

cost  of  dozen 105 

breeding  for 119 

fall  problem 129 

handling 132 

selling 133 

packing 134 


228 


POULTRY  FOR  PROFIT 


Eggs,  improving 135 

preserving 135 

turkey 201,  202 

hatching  duck 219 

testing   duck 220 

Exercise,  necessity  for 31,  156 

for  chicks 79 

Extensive  System 25 

Fancy  Stock 23 

Pats 82 

Feather  Eating 195 

Feed  Troughs,  keep  clean 155 

Feeding,  continuous 95 

laying  hens 96 

methods  of 103 

rules  for Ill 

regularity Ill 

punctuality Ill 

variety 112 

plenty 112 

hygienic 155 

and  sanitation 170 

Feeds 82 

animal 87 

green 87,  156 

condimental 89 

rape,  best  green 146 

don't  buy  moldy 155 

Females,  number  to  male 118 

Fleas 154 

stick-tights 154 

Foodstuffs,  denned 84 

Fountain,   clean 155 

Fruit  and  Poultry 28 

Fryers 136 

Gapes    187 

Garden  Hose 144 

Geese 222 

varieties 222 

mating  and  hatching 223 

feeding  goslings 224 

feeding  breeders 224 

allow  liberty 225 

Germ,  weakness 61 

Going  Light 175, 181 

Goslings,  feeding 225 

Grains,  list  of 85 

Grit,  for  chicks 68 

and  shell 89 

Hatching,  when 40 

fall  and  winter 41 

how    42 

hens    44,  47,  50 

incubator 45 

rules   48 

Health,  droppings  indicate 156 

Hen,  setting 49 

feeding 52 

bodily  requirements  of 97 

feeding  molting 109 

overfat 110 

size  and  shape 117 

Hen-Incubator 50 

Hoppers  and  Feeders 161 

House,  requirements 28 


House,  colony 32 

long 35 

farm  flock 36 

California 37 

open  front 37 

novel  breeding 38 

tarred  paper 39 

clean,    necessary 143 

movable  fixtures 143 

clean  floor 143 

Incubating  Coop 51 

Incubator,  operating 53 

suggestions  for  running ....   54 

selecting   55,  56 

room 56 

use  good  oil 57 

floor    57 

moisture 58 

Insect  Pests 148 

Intensive  System 25 

Kerosene   &   crude   carbolic. .  .152 

emulsion 152 

Killing  &  Dressing 139 

Lamp,  care 76 

Layer,    marks 120 

old  hens 128 

Leg  weakness 189 

Lice 148 

ointment    149 

powder 150 

distillate 151 

on  turkeys 207 

Limberneck   182 

Lowry  Powder 150 

Market  Poultry 106, 136 

Marketing    132 

Mating 118 

Meat  Production 23 

Mites 151 

Moisture,  in  nest 53 

in  incubator 58 

Molting,  starving 110 

care  during 127 

Nest,  moisture 53 

material 145 

good   163 

Nest  Boxes 49 

Nutritive  Ratio 83 

narrow 84 

Oats,  sprouting 88 

Oviduct,  inflammation 191 

prolapse 192 

obstruction 193 

rupture 193 

Poultry  Farm,  locating 18 

water 14 

fertile    soil 15 

transportation 15 

proximity  to  poultrymen. ...    16 

drainage 16 

exposure 16 

wind  protection 16 

how  much  land 17 

Poultrymen,  five  classes 9 

Poults,  protect 198,  202 


POULTRY  FOB  PROFIT 


229 


Poults,  in  nest 203 

brooding 204 

Prepotency 119 

Producer,  rules  for 133 

Profit 9 

Proteins 82 

vegetables  containing 86 

Pullets,  separate 81 

feeding  on  range 108 

Rations,  California 91,  102 

Cornell   92,  102 

Maine 92,100 

Missouri 93,  100 

Purdue 94,  99 

Iowa 95 

things  to  consider 98 

sample    99 

New  Jersey 100 

Ontario 101 

winter 101 

West  Virginia 102 

Southern  California 103 

fattening   106,  107 

Rats,  protection  from 30 

Rheumatism 182 

Roasters 139 

Rooster,  vigorous 116 

gallantry   117 

half  the  pen 117 

Roosts,  movable 31 

paint  with  tallow 153 

good   162 

Roup 178 

Scaly  Leg 183 

Scratching  Litter 80 

clean 155 

Sex,   determining 126 

Shade   146 

deciduous  orchard  for 157 

Soil,    purifying 145 

Sticking 140 

Summer,  caring  for  hens  in. .  .157 


Summer  Quarters 144 

Temperature,  of  hen 76 

Thermometer,  test 58 

Ticks 153 

Tobacco  Powder 153 

Toe  Picking 196 

Trap-nest,  using 121, 167 

Oregon 167 

homemade    168 

Trapnesting 119 

Tuberculosis    174 

Turkey,  wild 197 

breeding  stock 199 

hen  and  torn  related 200 

breeding  size 200 

breeding  not  fat 201 

laying  and  hatching 201 

broodiness  in 201 

nests  for 203 

coops  for 206 

grit  and  charcoal 207 

fattening   208 

varieties 208,  209 

diseases   210 

critical  time 211 

rules  for  raising 211 

Vent  Gleet 194 

Ventilation 145 

Vigor,  necessary 115 

cross  breeding 125 

Water,  fresh 70 

clean 155 

vessels  for 160 

Water-glass 135 

Weakness,  inherent 170 

Weather,  protection  from 29 

White  Diarrhea 184 

White  Leghorns  for  Eggs 19 

Whitewash,  government 148 

and  carbolic 154 

Worms 188 

Wryneck 182 


California  Cultivator 


Best  Farm  Weekly 
on  Pacific  Coast 

$1.OO   per   Vear 

Cultivator  Publishing  Co 

Los  Angeles 
California 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

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WILL  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
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OCT   80  193? 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


